- Industry: Government
- Number of terms: 33950
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United States Department of Health and Human Services, Radiation Emergency Medical Management
The amount of a radioactive material that will undergo one decay (disintegration) per second. For more information, see “primer on radiation measurement” from cdc.
Industry:Medical devices
(image) electrons ejected from the nucleus of a decaying atom. Although they can be stopped by a thin sheet of aluminum, beta particles can penetrate the dead skin layer, potentially causing burns. They can pose a serious direct or external radiation threat and can be lethal depending on the amount received. They also pose a serious internal radiation threat if beta-emitting atoms are ingested or inhaled. See also alpha particle, gamma rays, neutron, x-ray.
Industry:Medical devices
The laboratory or clinical methods used to measure or estimate the dose of ionizing radiation energy absorbed by an individual. Biodosimetry tools measure the dose to internal organs and tissues from external exposure and internal contamination.
Industry:Medical devices
The partial or complete destruction of skin caused by some form of energy, usually thermal energy.
Industry:Medical devices
Has a half-life of 30.17 years and decays by beta and gamma radiation. Cs-137 is produced by nuclear fission for use in medical devices and gauges and is one of the byproducts of nuclear fission processes in nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons testing. Small quantities of cs-137 can be found in the environment from nuclear weapons tests that occurred in the 1950s and 1960s and from nuclear reactor accidents, such as the chernobyl power plant accident in 1986, which distributed cs-137 to many countries in europe.
Industry:Medical devices
A process that initiates its own repetition. In a fission chain reaction, a fissile nucleus absorbs a neutron and fissions (splits) spontaneously, releasing additional neutrons. These, in turn, can be absorbed by other fissile nuclei, releasing still more neutrons. A fission chain reaction is self-sustaining when the number of neutrons released in a given time equals or exceeds the number of neutrons lost by absorption in non-fissile material or by escape from the system.
Industry:Medical devices
Exposure to a substance over a long period of time, possibly resulting in adverse health effects. See also acute exposure, fractionated exposure.
Industry:Medical devices
A gray, hard, magnetic, and somewhat malleable metal. Cobalt is relatively rare and generally obtained as a byproduct of the production of other metals, such as copper. Its most common radioisotope, cobalt-60 (co-60), is used in radiography and medical applications. Co-60 emits beta particles and gamma rays during radioactive decay.
Industry:Medical devices
The ratio of the amount of a specific substance in a given volume or mass of solution to the mass or volume of solvent.
Industry:Medical devices
