Radiation is around us all the time. It is the types and the amounts of these types that we must be concerned with. Today we will look at three areas of radiation:

• The presence of radiation in everyday life
  
• Common radiation risks
  
• Current uses of radiation at CUA

The form of radiation that concerns us is ionized radiation. There are three types of ionized radiation:

• Gamma radiation: the type we see in atomic bomb blast
  
• Beta radiation: the type found in research procedures
  
• Alpha radiation: the type found naturally around us.

Gamma radiation is by far the most harmful.

Radiation is measured in units called rems or millirems(One-thousandth of a rem). A human should be exposed to less than 5000 millirems per year in order to be considered unaffected by radiation.

Natural radiation is greater in some areas of the country than others. For example, natural surroundings in Wyoming expose people to 140 millirems per year; East Coast inhabitants receive 15 millirems exposure. Cosmic radiation is another source of natural radiation. e receives 75 millirems/year in Wyoming, versus 38 millirems/year in Florida.

Medical procedures and use of different products in our everyday lives also expose us to radiation.

Medicine uses x-rays and other radioactive procedures in disease diagnosis and treatment.

Consumer use of the following products give us an idea of the amounts of exposure we receive by using them:

• Airports
  
• Ink
  
• Paper
  
• Tobacco use (2,000 millirems/year)
  
• Dentures (10,000 millirems/year)

Nuclear fuel use adds very little radiation exposure. The average amount of exposure is 0.003 millirems/year for each person.

Our probabilities of being injured in other ways greatly surpasses any injury due to radiation. Probability of injury risk is 100% --- no one escapes injury totally during a lifetime:

• Lung cancer: 36 deaths for every 100,000 people
  
• Automobile accidents: 19.1/100,000
  
• Airline crashes: 0.04/100,000
  
• Homicides: 10.9/100,000
  
• Falls at home: 5/100,000
  
• Work related: 4.8/100,000

One out of every 1,000,000 risks is fatal. These risks are greater for other everyday activties than for radiation, as seen below:

One death per every 1,000,000 for any of the following types of "exposures"

• 40 tablespoons of peanut butter
  
• 100 charcoal broiled steaks
  
• 2 days in New York City
  
• 1.5 cigarettes
  
• 10 millirems of radiation
  
• 300 miles travel in an automobile
  
• 1000 miles travel in jet airplane

At CUA, radiation is found in natural surroundings and in research projects. It is closely monitored for any changes. Radioactive supplies are known as RAM (radioactive materials).

Any person who works with radiation is monitored. If a grant proposal is made which involves the use of radioactive materials, the grant must be approved by the radiation safety department. The department also closely monitors the shipping of radioactive materials, both incoming and outgoing. Lastly, the radiation group is constantly instructing the campus community on the proper use and disposal of radioactive materials

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