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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Fission

Published: Oct 12, 2018

(Nuclear) Fission is the process where a heavy nuclei (e.g. U-235) decays by splitting into two equal fragments (fission fragments). This process proceeds with the emission of Neutrons and Gamma Rays, the neutrons being available to initiated further fissions and thus a nuclear chain reaction. Some nuclides such as Cf-252 can undergo spontaneous fission, although fission is induced in other nuclides such as U-235 by incoming neutrons. The fission fragments can undergo further Radioactive Decay producing a host of fission products.

In radiation protection I spend most of my time explaining to clients what they do not need to worry about.

– Mark Ramsay -