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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Passive Dosimeter

Published: Oct 12, 2018

A passive dosimeter is a device used to record Personal Exposure to Radiation (and sometimes Environmental Exposure). Examples are the Film Badge and the Thermo Luminescent Dosimeter (TLD). A newer technique uses a solid state system to create a USB dosimeter. This is still passive but can be read by plugging into a computer. An alternative is to use an Active Dosimeter which provides a real-time instant measure of Dose accrued and Dose Rate. Active dosimetry is the preferred option and is becoming cheaper year by year.

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 -