Radiation protection

Radiation protection - a set of measures aimed at protecting living organisms from ionizing radiation , as well as finding ways to reduce the damaging effects of ionizing radiation; one of the areas of radiobiology .

Content

1 Types of protection against ionizing radiation
2 Physical protection (shielding)
3 Chemical radiation protection
4 See also
5 notes
6 Literature

Types of protection against ionizing radiation

physical: the use of various screens, attenuating materials, etc.
biological: is a complex of repairing enzymes, etc.

The main methods of protection against ionizing radiation are:

distance protection;
shielding protection:

from alpha radiation - a sheet of paper, rubber gloves, a respirator;
from beta radiation - plexiglass, a thin layer of aluminum, glass, gas mask;
from gamma radiation - heavy metals (tungsten, lead, steel, etc.); gamma radiation is absorbed the more efficiently the larger the average Z of materials, so a ton of lead can be more efficient than a ton of iron.
from neutrons - water, polyethylene, other polymers, concrete; according to the law of conservation of energy, neutrons efficiently dissipate energy in light nuclei, so a layer of water or polyethylene to protect against neutrons will be much more effective than armored steel of the same thickness;

protection by time;
chemical protection .

Physical Protection (Shielding)

The layer thickness of a given material, which reduces the radiation level by half, is called the half attenuation layer . The ratio of radiation levels before and after protection is called the protection factor.

With increasing thickness of the radiation protection layer, the amount of transmitted radiation decreases exponentially. So, if the half-weakening layer of caked soil is 9.1 cm for gamma radiation of fission fragments, then the 91 cm thick embankment (a typical embankment above the anti-radiation shelter) will reduce the amount of radiation by 2 ¹⁰ , or 1024 times.

The absorption index (standing in the exponent) depends on the energy. For example, the half-attenuation layer for cesium-137 radiation is several times smaller than for cobalt-60 radiation.

The table below shows the characteristics of the half attenuation layer of gamma radiation from fission fragments of some materials (in units of the GHS system) ^[1] :

Protection material	Layer of half attenuation, cm	Density, g / cm³	The mass of 1 cm² layer half weakening, g
Lead	1.8	11.3	twenty
Concrete	6.1	3.33	twenty
Steel	2,5	7.86	twenty
Caked soil	9.1	1.99	eighteen
Water	eighteen	1.00	eighteen
Wood	29th	0.56	16
Depleted uranium	0.2	19.1	3.9
Air	15,000	0.0012	eighteen

Chemical radiation protection

Chemical protection from ionizing radiation is the weakening of the effect of radiation on the body, provided that chemicals called radioprotectors are introduced into it.

Notes

↑ "Halving-thickness for various materials" (neopr.) . "The Compass DeRose Guide to Emergency Preparedness - Hardened Shelters." Date of treatment January 24, 2010. Archived February 12, 2012.

Literature

Goncharenko E.N., Kudryashov Yu. B. Chemical protection against radiation damage - M .: Moscow University Press, 1985
Saxonov P.P. , Shashkov V.S. Sergeev P.V. - Radiation pharmacology. M., "Medicine", 1976.
Military toxicology, radiobiology and medical protection. - Ed. S. A. Kutsenko. - St. Petersburg: Tome. - 2004
Ilyin L. A., Rudny N. M., Suvorov N. N. and other Indralin-radioprotector emergency action. M., 1994

[1] "Halving-thickness for various materials" (neopr.) . "The Compass DeRose Guide to Emergency Preparedness - Hardened Shelters." Date of treatment January 24, 2010. Archived February 12, 2012.