Radiation Protection Glossary

A radiation protection glossary for Radiation Protection Supervisors (RPS), Radiation Protection Advisers (RPA) and anyone else interesting in radiation safety terms and definitions. The glossary is a mixture of health physics , phrases related to radiation protection legislation, transport, practical safety, technical terms and similar.

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For formal advice, see our Radiation Protection Adviser pages. 

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External Radiation


The external radiation (hazard) exists where an absorber (typically a person) is being exposed to a source of Ionising Radiation external to the body. Examples would include exposures to Sealed Sources, dental X-Rays and Cosmic Rays. One feature of this hazard is that moving the absorber away from the source (usually) results in a reduction in the Dose of ionising radiation to that absorber, which is not the case for Internal Radiation hazards.

Physics is really nothing more than a search for ultimate simplicity, but so far all we have is a kind of elegant messiness

– Bill Bryson -