• Question: What precautions do you use while experimenting with radioactve substances?

    Asked by atomicthumb to Charlotte, Dhvanil, Frank, Jim, Leila on 19 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: Leila Nichol

      Leila Nichol answered on 19 Mar 2013:

      We have to work on lead benches which are shielded where you would stand and have lead glass to look through, and sometimes wear protective clothing/gloves/goggles. When I work with radioactive seeds I use long handled tweezers to pick them up as you want to keep your fingers as far away as possible to minimise radiation dose

      Things like the high energy linear accelerators that deliver radiotherapy have to be shielded in rooms on meter thick concrete and different shielding linings!

    • Photo: Jim O Doherty

      Jim O Doherty answered on 19 Mar 2013:

      We use lots of lead which stops most of the radiation, and also we wear special badges which can tell us how much radiation we are receiving every day. The law on this is very strict, we are only allowed to receive a certain amount before we get investigated by the authorities. Its also important to remember that in our case, its the patients that are radioactive so we can’t stand around talking to them for ages!

    • Photo: Dhvanil Karia

      Dhvanil Karia answered on 20 Mar 2013:

      We use lab coats,gloves, special goggles and a electronic personal dosimeter ( a meter which measure the radiation my body is catching). Along with this we train for a long time before we start working with radiation to get the technique right. We also use lead to shield our self from radiation. …..

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