Reference tables
Table 1: Characteristics of Radioisotopes used in Industrial Radiography
Iridium-192 Cobalt-60 Selenium-75
Disintegration Beta particle (β) and Beta particle (β) and K-capture and gamma
mechanism gamma (γ) radiation gamma (γ) radiation (γ) radiation
Half-life 74.4 days 5.27 years 120 days
Energy of gamma 0.31 MeV 6 energy levels from
1.33 MeV
radiation 0.47 MeV 0.066 to 0.401 MeV
1.17 MeV
0.60 MeV
Approximate maximum
thickness that can be 80 mm of steel 230 mm of steel 40 mm steel
inspected
Characteristic intensity 0.55 R/h per curie 1.35 R/h per curie 0.2 R/h per curie
at 1 m 0.15 mSv/h per GBq 0.36 mSv/h per GBq 0.054 mSv/h per GBq
Table 2: Other important numbers
5% of speed of 4 to 9 MeV A few cm of air
Alpha particle characteristics
light A thin piece of paper
99.95% of speed From 0 max One cm of tissue
Beta particle characteristics of light specific to A few mm of Aluminum
radionuclide A few m of air
20,000 Km/sec <10 KeV to Penetrate steel and lead
Neutron characteristics when ejected >20 MeV Absorbed by graphite or
water
Mass of an electron 1/1840 unit mass
Speed of light 186,000 mi/sec or 3 x 1010 cm/sec
Half-life uranium-238 4.49 x 109 years
Half-life radium-226 1622 years
TLD thickness of chips For skin: 0.035” For body: 0.015”
Dose unlikely to cause effects < 250 mGy
Lethal dose LD-50 5 Sv
Roentgen Creation of 2.08 x 109 ion pairs in one cubic cm of air.
Becquerel 27 x 10-12 curies
Terabecquerel 27 curies
Curie (Ci) 3.7 x 1010 becquerels
Conversions activity
Gigabecquerel (GBq) 109 becquerels
Terabecquerel (TBq) 1012 becquerels
Terabecquerel (TBq) 1,000 gigabecquerels
Gray (Gy) 100 rads
Conversions biological dose Sievert (Sv) 100 rems
mSv 100 mrems
Table 3: Formulae for radiation protection
Time Distance Shielding
Dose = Dose Rate x Time I = (Do)2 I = Io I = Io
Io (D)2 2n 10n
Table 4: Half-Value and Tenth-Value Layers for Shielding Materials
Material Value Layers Iridium 192 Cobalt 60
HVL 2.8 mm 6.9 mm
Uranium
TVL 9.3 mm 22.9 mm
HVL 3.3 mm 7.9 mm
Tungsten
TVL 10.9 mm 26.2 mm
HVL 4.8 mm 12.4 mm
Lead
TVL 13.2 mm 41.1 mm
HVL 8.7 mm 22.0 mm
Steel
TVL 29.0 mm 73.6 mm
HVL 48.2 mm 68.5 mm
Concrete
TVL 157.4 mm 228.6 mm
