Practical Applications of Radioactivity and Nuclear Radiations [Paperback]

This book introduces radioisotopes and ionising radiations and their numerous applications.This book is about radioisotopes, the emitted radiations and their numerous applications. Early chapters introduce characteristics of these radiations and how they are used. Subsequent chapters introduce applications dealing with engineering, scientific technologies, agriculture, flow rate monitoring, hygiene and others. Radioisotopes permit the components of complex systems to be labelled with different radionuclides and tested 'in one go', a useful advantage when radiotracers are used in industry. This book will be of particular interest to scientists and technologists, teachers and students, helping them to work with radioisotopes safely, efficiently and reliably.This book is about radioisotopes, the emitted radiations and their numerous applications. Early chapters introduce characteristics of these radiations and how they are used. Subsequent chapters introduce applications dealing with engineering, scientific technologies, agriculture, flow rate monitoring, hygiene and others. Radioisotopes permit the components of complex systems to be labelled with different radionuclides and tested 'in one go', a useful advantage when radiotracers are used in industry. This book will be of particular interest to scientists and technologists, teachers and students, helping them to work with radioisotopes safely, efficiently and reliably.This book shows how to use radioisotopes and the emitted ionizing radiations effectively and safely. It describes decay and stability criteria, necessary precautions to ensure radiation protection and the detection of alpha, beta and gamma rays including spectrometry. Chapters cover calorimetry, liquid scintillation counting, how to use secondary standard instruments, high resolution detectors and how to calculate counting results estimating uncertainties and allowing for the statistics of radionuclide decays. Other subjects examined include industrial l!