RADIOACTIVE!

Sheryl Hoff mann

shoff mann@concordia.sa.edu.au

SUMMARY
Legislation
ARPNSA Safety Guide
Australian Curriculum
Theory
Practicals for middle school
students
Practicals for senior school
students

SA LEGISLATION
Radiation Protection and Control Act
1982
Radiation Protection and Control
(Ionising Radiation) Regulations 2015
(SA)
Part 6Miscellaneous
Division 1Use of ionising radiation in
schools
191Interpretation
(1) In this Division
the Code means the Code of Practice for
the Safe Use of Ionizing Radiation in
Secondary
Schools (1986) published by the

THE CODE

SA LEGISLATION
192Use of radioactive substance etc in
secondary school to be in accordance with
Code
(1) The use of a radioactive substance or
apparatus in a secondary school must be in
accordance with the Code.
(2) A person in charge of a secondary school
must ensure that at all times there is a person
designated to act as the responsible teacher
for the purposes of compliance with the Code.
(3) If this regulation is not complied with, the
person in charge of the school is guilty of an
off ence.

GUIDELINES

AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM
Science
Year 9
Science Understanding / Chemical sciences
Content description
All matter is made of atoms which are
composed of protons, neutrons and electrons;
natural radioactivity arises from the decay of
nuclei in atoms

AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM
Elaborations
describing and modelling the structure of
atoms in terms of the nucleus, protons,
neutrons and electrons
comparing the mass and charge of protons,
neutrons and electrons
describing in simple terms how alpha and
beta particles and gamma radiation are
released from unstable atoms

AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM
Achievement Standard
By the end of Year 9, students explain
chemical processes and natural radioactivity
in terms of atoms and energy transfers and
describe examples of important chemical
reactions.

WHAT IS RADIATION?

IONIZING RADIATION
Ionizing radiation has enough
energy to cause chemical changes
by breaking chemical bonds
The energy is absorbed by the
surroundings
This can cause damage to living
tissue

3 KINDS OF IONIZING RADIATION

Alpha particles which include

two protons & two neutrons
Beta particles which are
essentially electrons
Gamma Rays & X-Rays which
are pure energy (photons)

MEASURING RADIATION

Two measurements:
Activity
Exposure

ACTIVITY
How much radiation is coming out of
something
Unit: Becquerel (Bq).
The Becquerel counts how many
particles or photons (in the case of
wave radiation) are emitted per
second by a source. 1Bq = 1
disintegration per second (a very
small unit).

EXPOSURE
Measures the eff ects of that radiation
on anything that absorbs it
Units: Sievert (Sv) & milliSievert (mSv)

EXPOSURE
There are three ways to express radiation exposure:
Absorbed dose:the energy 'deposited' in a
kilogram of a substance by a radiation source;
measured in an international (SI) unit called the Gray
(Gy).
Equivalent dose:relates the absorbed dose to the
biological damage of the type of radiation. The
absorbed dose is multiplied by radiation weighting
factor (wR); measured in an international (SI) unit
called the Sievert (Sv).
Eff ective dose:the equivalent dose multiplied by
tissue weighting factor (wT) for the diff erent harmful
eff ects of radiation on diff erent types of tissue. If
more than one organ has been exposed, the overall
eff ective dose is the sum of all the eff ective doses of
all the exposed organs. The unit of eff ective dose is

ACTIVITY & DOSE

EXPOSURE
Source of Exposure

Exposure

General Australian
background radiation

1.5 mSv per year

Natural radiation at sea

level in Australia (cosmic)

0.36mSv per year

Chest X-ray

0.02 mSv

7 hour fl ight

0.05 mSv

Domestic airline pilot

2 - 6 mSv per year

Max occupational exposure

allowed

20 mSv (full body)

Max public exposure allowed

1 mSv

Standard School demo

0.01 mSv (to teachers hand)

ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES
1. Appoint a Radiation Supervisor
2. Local Rules (see Annex 4)
3. Risk Assessment (see Annex 3)
4. Staff Induction
5. Students Age
6. Record Keeping
7. Storage
8. Disposal
9. Spills
10.Inspection & Wipe Test (Annex 5)

WIPE TEST (ANNEX 5)

Fold a clean, dry, paper tissue to make a small
pad with an area about the size of the window of
the radiation detector. Hold the tissue in forceps
and gently wipe the pad over the surfaces of the
source
Hold the radiation detector very close to, but not
touching, the wiping surface of the tissue.
Count the radioactivity on the tissue for 2 minutes
If the count from the tissue is less than 1.5 times
background, the source has passed the wipe test

JUNIOR PRACTICALS
1. WHAT ITEMS ARE RADIOACTIVE?
2. BACKGROUND RADIATION
3. TIME AND RADIATION EXPOSURE
4. DISTANCE AND RADIATION
EXPOSURE
5. SHIELDING

RADIATION IN THE HOME

BACKGROUND RADIATION

REDUCE TIME & REDUCE EXPOSURE

Is it safe to wear this watch for 8 hours per day?

VASELINE GLASSWARE

How long is it safe to sit 3m from this item?

INVERSE SQUARE LAW

Intensity

1
--------------------

(distance )

SHIELDING

SHIELDING

SENIOR PRACTICALS

Cloud Chamber
Smoke Detector
Half-life Experiments
Protactinium Generator
Thoron Generator

Balloon
Caesium /Barium Generator

CLOUD CHAMBER

SMOKE DETECTOR

INSIDE A SMOKE DETECTOR

HOW A SMOKE DETECTOR WORKS

The alpha particles pass between
the two charged metal plates,
causing air particles to ionise
(split into positive and negative
ions). The ions are attracted to
the oppositely charged metal
plates causing a current to flow.

When smoke enters between the

plates, some of the alpha
particles are absorbed causing
less ionisation to take place. This
means a smaller than normal
current flows so the alarm
sounds.

URANIUM DECAY CHAIN

PROTACTINIUM GENERATOR

PASCO
ISOTOPE GENERATOR KIT (BARIUM-137m)

THORON GENERATOR

BALLOON

HALF-LIFE

REFERENCES
NSW Chemical Safety in Schools
Wikipedia
http://www.ansto.gov.au/
http://www.arpansa.gov.au/
http://
www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/ad
d_ocr_gateway/radiation/radioisotopesrev3.sht
ml
http://
www.pasco.com/prodCatalog/SN/SN-7995_isotope
-generator-kit-barium-137-m/index.cfm
Practical work using low-level radioactive
materials available to the public, Ralph

COPY OF THIS POWERPOINT

http://sherylhoffmann.weebly.com/

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Contact information:
Sheryl Hoffmann
Phone: +61 8 8291 9325
Fax: +61 8 8272 1463
Email: shoffmann@conconcordia.sa.edu.au