{"id":25316,"date":"2019-10-19T17:37:18","date_gmt":"2019-10-19T17:37:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sitepourvtc.com\/?page_id=25316"},"modified":"2023-06-14T10:31:36","modified_gmt":"2023-06-14T10:31:36","slug":"absorbed-dose","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sitepourvtc.com\/nuclear-engineering\/radiation-protection\/absorbed-dose\/","title":{"rendered":"Absorbed Dose"},"content":{"rendered":"
Absorbed dose<\/strong> is defined as the amount of energy deposited by ionizing radiation in a substance. The absorbed\u00a0dose<\/strong> is given the symbol D<\/strong>. \u00a0The absorbed dose is usually measured in a unit called the gray<\/strong> (Gy), derived from the SI system. The non-SI unit rad<\/strong> is sometimes also used, predominantly in the USA.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n <\/a>Units of absorbed dose:<\/p>\n Why do we deal with a radiation dose? In previous chapters, we have discussed radioactivity<\/strong><\/a> and the intensity of a radioactive source usually measured in becquerels<\/a>. But any radioactive source represents <\/span>no biological risk <\/b>as long as it is isolated from the environment. However, when people or another system (also non-biological) are exposed to radiation, energy is deposited in the material, and radiation dose is delivered.<\/span><\/p>\n It is therefore very important to distinguish between the radioactivity of a radioactive source and the radiation dose<\/strong> which may result from the source. Generally, the radiation dose depends on the following factors regarding the radioactive source:<\/span><\/p>\n The danger of ionizing radiation lies in the fact that the radiation is invisible and not directly detectable by human senses. People can neither see nor feel radiation, yet it deposits energy into the molecules of the body. The energy is transferred in small quantities for each interaction between the radiation and a molecule, and there are usually many such interactions.<\/span><\/p>\n In nuclear power plants<\/a>, the central problem is to protect personals and the environment against gamma rays<\/strong><\/a> and neutrons<\/strong><\/a> because the ranges of charged particles (such as beta particles and alpha particles) in the matter are very short. On the other hand, we must deal with shielding all types of radiation because each nuclear reactor is a significant source of all types of ionizing radiation.<\/p>\n See also: Gamma Ray Attenuation<\/a><\/p>\n See also: Neutron Shielding<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A dose of one gray<\/strong> is equivalent to a unit of energy (joule) deposited in a kilogram of a substance. This unit was named in honor of Louis Harold Gray<\/strong>, who was one of the great pioneers in radiation biology. One gray is a large amount of absorbed dose. A person who has absorbed a whole-body dose of 1 Gy has absorbed one joule of energy in each kg of body tissue.<\/p>\n Absorbed doses<\/strong> measured in the industry (except nuclear medicine) often have usually lower doses than one gray, and the following multiples are often used:<\/p>\n 1 mGy (milligray) = 1E-3 Gy<\/strong><\/p>\n 1 \u00b5Gy (microgray) = 1E-6 Gy<\/strong><\/p>\n Conversions from the SI units to other units are as follows:<\/p>\n The gray and rad are physical units describing the incident radiation\u2019s physical effect (i.e., the amount of energy deposited per kg). Still, it tells us nothing about the biological consequences of such energy deposition in living tissue.<\/p>\n The absorbed dose rate<\/strong> is the rate at which an absorbed dose is received and a measure of radiation dose intensity (or strength). The absorbed dose rate is therefore defined as:<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n In conventional units, it is measured in mrad\/sec,<\/strong>\u00a0rad\/hr, mGy\/sec or Gy\/hr. Since the amount of radiation exposure depends directly (linearly) on the time<\/strong> people spend near the source of radiation, the absorbed dose is equal to the strength of the radiation field (dose rate) multiplied by the length of time spent in that field. The example above indicates a person could expect to receive a dose of 25 millirems by staying in a 50 millirems\/hour field for thirty minutes.<\/p>\n We must note that radiation<\/a> is all around us. In, around, and above the world we live in. It is a natural energy force that surrounds us, and it is a part of our natural world that has been here since the birth of our planet. In the following points, we try to express enormous ranges of radiation exposure, which can be obtained from various sources.<\/p>\n As can be seen, low-level doses are common in everyday life. The previous examples can help illustrate relative magnitudes. From biological consequences, it is very important to distinguish between doses received over short<\/strong> and extended periods<\/strong>. An \u201cacute dose<\/strong>\u201d occurs over a short and finite period, while a \u201cchronic dose<\/strong>\u201d is a dose that continues for an extended period so that it is better described by a dose rate. High doses tend to kill cells, while low doses tend to damage or change them. Low doses spread out over long periods don\u2019t cause an immediate problem to any body organ. The effects of low radiation doses occur at the cell level, and the results may not be observed for many years.<\/p>\n Assume the point isotropic source<\/strong>\u00a0contains 1.0 Ci of 137<\/sup>Cs<\/strong>\u00a0and has a half-life<\/a> of 30.2 years<\/strong>. Note that the relationship between half-life and the amount of a radionuclide<\/a> required to give an activity of one curie<\/a> is shown below. This amount of material can be calculated using \u03bb, which is the decay constant<\/a> of certain nuclide:<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n About 94.6 percent decays by beta emission<\/a> to a metastable nuclear isomer<\/a> of barium: barium-137m. The main photon peak of Ba-137m is 662 keV<\/strong>. For this calculation, assume that all decays go through this channel.<\/p>\n Determine the primary photon dose rate<\/strong>, in gray per hour (Gy.h-1<\/sup>), at the outer surface of a 5 cm thick lead shield. The primary photon dose rate neglects all secondary particles. Assume that the effective distance of the source from the dose point is 10 cm<\/strong>. We shall also assume that the dose point is soft tissue and it can reasonably be simulated by water, and we use the mass-energy absorption coefficient for water.<\/p>\n See also: Gamma Ray Attenuation<\/a><\/p>\n See also: Shielding of Gamma Rays<\/a><\/p>\n Solution:<\/strong><\/p>\n The primary photon dose rate is attenuated exponentially<\/a>, and the dose rate from primary photons, taking account of the shield, is given by:<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n As can be seen, we do not account for the buildup of secondary radiation. If secondary particles are produced, or the primary radiation changes its energy or direction, the effective attenuation will be much less. This assumption generally underestimates the true dose rate, especially for thick shields and when the dose point is close to the shield surface, but this assumption simplifies all calculations. For this case, the true dose rate (with the buildup of secondary radiation) will be more than two times higher.<\/p>\n To calculate the absorbed dose rate<\/strong>, we have to use the formula:<\/p>\n Result:<\/strong><\/p>\n The resulting absorbed dose rate in grays per hour is then:<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n If we want to account for the buildup of secondary radiation, then we have to include the buildup factor. The extended formula<\/strong> for the dose rate is then:<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n As was written, each type of radiation interacts with matter differently<\/strong>. For example, charged particles with high energies can directly ionize atoms. On the other hand, electrically neutral particles interact indirectly but can also transfer some or all of their energies to the matter. It would certainly simplify matters if the biological effects<\/strong> of radiation were directly proportional to the absorbed dose. Unfortunately, biological effects also depend on how the absorbed dose is distributed along the radiation path. Studies have shown that alpha and neutron radiation cause greater biological damage for a given energy deposition per kg of tissue than gamma radiation. It was discovered biological effects of any radiation increase<\/strong> with the linear energy transfer<\/strong> (LET). In short, the biological damage from high-LET radiation<\/strong> (alpha particles<\/a>, protons<\/a>, or neutrons<\/a>) is much greater than that from low-LET radiation<\/strong> (gamma rays<\/a>). This is because the living tissue can more easily repair damage from radiation spread over a large area than that concentrated in a small area. Because more biological damage is caused for the same physical dose (i.e., the same energy deposited per unit mass of tissue), one gray of alpha or neutron radiation is more harmful than one gray of gamma radiation. The fact that radiations of different types (and energies) give different biological effects for the same absorbed dose is described in terms of factors known as the relative biological effectiveness<\/strong> (RBE) and the radiation weighting factor<\/strong> (wR<\/sub>).<\/p>\n ——–<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n
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Gray – Unit of Absorbed Dose<\/h2>\n
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Absorbed Dose Rate<\/h2>\n
Examples of Absorbed Doses in grays<\/h2>\n
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Calculation of Shielded Dose Rate<\/h2>\n
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From Absorbed Dose to Equivalent Dose<\/h2>\n