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MEASUREMENT OF radiation is required in all facets of nuclear energy-in scientific studies, in the operation of reactors for the production of electric power, and for protection from radiation hazard. Detectors are used to identify the radioactive products of nuclear reactions and to measure neutron flux. They determine the amount of radioisotopes in the air we breathe and the water we drink, or the uptake of a sample of radioactive material administered to the human body for diagnosis.
The kind of detector employed depends on the particles to be
observed-electrons, gamma rays, neutrons, ions such as fission fragments,
or combinations. It depends on the energy of the particles. It also depends
on the radiation environment in which the detector is to be used-at one end of the scale is a minute trace of a radioactive material and at the other a source of large radiation exposure. The type of measuring device, as in all applications, is chosen for the intended purpose and the accuracy desired. The demands on the detector are related to what it is we wish to know:
(a) whether there is a radiation field present;
(b) the number of nuclear
particles that strike a surface per second or some other specified period of
time;
(c) the type of particle s present, and if there are several types, the
relative number of each;
(d) the energy of the individual particles; and (e)
the instant a particle arrives at the detector. From the measurement of
radiation we can deduce properties of the radiation such as ability to
penetrate matter and to produce ionization. We can also determine
properties of a radioactive source, including disintegration rate, half-life,
and amount of material.
