Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Relative Biological Effectiveness - What Kind of Radiation is the Most Risky?

As you read this right now, you are being bombarded by radiation – cosmic rays flying in from the dark reaches of space, photons streaming out of the hot core of the earth, and miniscule particles issuing from your computer and other objects around you. But not all radiation is created equal. A new field of study has unearthed the fact that different kinds of radiation affect us differently.  

Although quite a mouthful, this study is called Relative Biological Effectiveness (abbreviated RBE). It seeks to put all radiation on an equal plane and find out what kind poses the highest risk to our organism. Higher values of RBE mean that certain types of radiation are more harmful. Ionizing radiation, which is made up of alpha, beta, and gamma rays, constitute electrically charged particles that interact with matter. These interactions can cause ionization, which refers to changes within the structure of an atom that can cause it to destabilize or behave differently.
Alpha particles are the largest kind of ionizing radiation, each consisting of two protons and two neutrons. Because they are highly charged and quite large, they are quickly stopped by as little as 4 cm (1.4 inches) of open air or a sheet of paper1. Beta particles are much smaller, meaning they can penetrate further: through 9 meters (19 ft) of open air or 11 mm (.4 inches) of body tissue. Gamma rays are high-energy photons, meaning that they penetrate much further and interact differently with matter than alpha or beta particles. Thick, dense materials such as lead are necessary to block gamma rays. Another related form of radiation is neutron radiation, which is commonly referred to as indirectly ionizing radiation. Free neutrons, which are emitted from nuclear materials such as uranium and plutonium, have about a quarter of the mass of an alpha particle2. Neutrons are not charged but readily cause ionization by knocking away electrons or slamming into atomic nuclei. The neutral charge of these fast-traveling neutrons also allows them to penetrate much further into most materials than other types of ionizing radiation, even through many feet of concrete.
Source: American Nuclear Society
 To test how damaging different types of radiation is on the human body, scientists expose living tissue to equal amounts of energy from each type. Surprisingly enough, scientists have found that beta and gamma radiation are nearly equally damaging, so the RBE value of beta and gamma radiation is 1. It gets more complicated from here, though. Alpha and neutron radiation have different RBE values depending on what kind of cells are exposed to them. The RBE for bacteria is 2-3, but can be 6-8 for more complex cells like those found in the human body. This means that a certain amount of alpha radiation is 6-8 times more damaging then the same amount of beta radiation. Neutrons are even more damaging with a RBE of 4-6 for bacteria and 12-16 for complex cells3.  
The high RBE values of alpha and neutron radiation should make us think twice about how we deal with these types. Because incoming alpha particles are stopped by a single layer of skin, they can’t do much damage unless they get in our bodies. That’s why breathing in alpha radiation (from radon or radioactive dust) or ingesting it (in contaminated food or water) is so dangerous. When alpha particles get to really important cells in our organs, the RBE can shoot up: scientists have measured RBE values of 1,000 for alpha radiation inside hamsters4. Neutron RBE values are more constant because neutrons penetrate just about everything, but they are also much harder to contain. That’s why materials that emit neutrons are highly controlled, very hard to transport, and large neutron sources are only found in research facilities and power plants.
The Rad-ID device by D-tect Systems has a special way of finding neutron radiation. A container filled with Helium-3, a rare and stable gas, is included with other radiation detectors inside the Rad-ID. As neutrons shoot through the detector, they collide with some of the He-3 atoms, causing them to change into charged particles. These particles are quickly identified and counted by a detector and a measurement of this radiation is sent to the user. Since neutron sources give off varying levels of gamma radiation, the Rad-ID can also identify these materials and let the user know what they are dealing with.
The Rad-ID can detect neutron radiation sources.
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D-tect Systems is a supplier of advanced radiation and chemical detection equipment sold around the world. www.dtectsystems.com.
  

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