Part 3

This booklet has presented a sample of the ways whole body counters add to man’s knowledge and increase his ability to manage conditions and processes important to his health and well-being. Radioactive substances occur naturally within our own bodies and all other materials. Whole body counters measure this radioactivity, or any which may have been added from artificial sources.

We have seen how these sensitive instruments help to prove hypotheses difficult to verify otherwise and how they thereby may stimulate new and fruitful scientific experimentation. We have learned how whole body counters add to our knowledge of normal processes in healthy bodies and detect disease or abnormalities resulting from dangerous conditions.

Each fact uncovered by whole body counters seems to trigger more penetrating research. This is how science advances. And with the advance of science comes knowledge on which we may build intelligent behavior and find solutions to problems affecting our lives.

SUGGESTED REFERENCES

Books

_Environmental Radioactivity_, Merril Eisenbud, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York. 1963, 430 pp., $13.50.

_Radioactivity in Man: Whole Body Counting and the Effects of Internal Gamma Ray-Emitting Radioisotopes_, George R. Meneely (Ed.). Charles C Thomas, Springfield, Illinois. 1965, 672 pp., $24.50.

_Whole Body Counting_, Proceedings of the Symposium on Whole Body Counting Held by the International Atomic Energy Agency at the Neue Hofburg, Vienna (June 12-16, 1961), National Agency for International Publications, 317 East 34th Street, New York 10016, 1962, 535 pp., $10.00.

_How to Detect and Measure Radiation_, Harold S. Renne, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., New York, 1963, 160 pp., $3.95.

_An Introduction to Radiation Counters and Detectors_, C. C. H. Washtell, George Newnes Ltd., London, 1960, 115 pp., $7.50.

_Liquid Scintillation Counting_, Proceedings of a Conference Held at Northwestern University (August 20-22, 1957), Carlos G. Bell, Jr., and F. Newton Hayes (Eds.), Pergamon Press, Inc., New York, 1958, 292 pp., $10.00.

Reports

_Fundamental Nuclear Energy Research, A Special Report of the United Stales Atomic Energy Commission_ (December 1963), Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. 20402, 407 pp., $2.50. Whole Body Counters as Medical Aids, pp. 11-13; Acute Whole Body Irradiation Effects, pp. 35-41; Chronic Whole Body Irradiation Effects, pp. 42-48.

_Radioactive Contamination of Materials Used in Scientific Research_, James R. DeVoe, Nuclear Science Series Report No. 34, National Academy of Sciences—National Research Council, Washington, D. C. 20418, 1961, $2.00. Appendix VIII, The Negotiations and Developmental Work on Low Activity Glasses for Use in Whole Body Counters, pp. 109-115.

Articles

Liquid Scintillation Counting of C¹⁴ and H³ Labeled Amino Acids and Proteins, M. Vaughan and others, _Science_, 126: 446 (Sept. 6, 1957).

Phosphorescence in Liquid Scintillation Counting of Proteins, R. J. Herberg, _Science_, 128: 199 (July 25, 1958).

Suspension Counting of Carbon-14 in Scintillation Gels, B. L. Funt and A. Hetherington, _Science_, 125: 986 (May 17, 1957).

Liquid Scintillation Counting of Aqueous Solutions of Carbon-14 and Tritium, J. Shapira and W. H. Perkins, _Science_, 131: 414 (Feb. 12, 1960).

Alone in the Dark with a Panic Button: Purdue’s Whole Body Counter, Martin Mann, _Popular Science_, 181: 90 (October 1962).

Counter as a Test Instrument, W. H. Bucksbaum, _Electronics World_, 68: 48 (November 1962).

Spiral Capillary Plastic Scintillation Flow Counter for Beta Assay, B. L. Funt and A. Hetherington, _Science_, 129: 1429 (May 22, 1959).

Motion Pictures

Available for loan without charge from the AEC Headquarters Film Library, Division of Public Information, U. S. Atomic Energy Commission, Washington, D. C. 20545 and from other AEC film libraries.

_Understanding the Atom: Radiation Detection by Scintillation_, 30 minutes, black and white, sound, 1962. Produced by the Educational Broadcasting Corporation under the direction of the AEC’s Division of Isotopes Development. This semitechnical film describes the scintillation process. Solid and liquid scintillators are shown, a description of a photomultiplier is given, and the pulse-height analyzer principle is illustrated.

_Human Radioactivity Measurements_, 9 minutes, color and sound, 1958. Produced by AEC’s Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. This film shows a method developed at LASL to monitor possible intake of radiation by personnel. The liquid scintillation counter is large enough to contain a man and sensitive enough to detect even the minute amounts of his natural gamma radioactivity.

_Ionizing Radiation in Humans_, 15 minutes, color and sound, 1958. Produced by AEC’s Argonne National Laboratory. Describes the design and operation of ANL’s whole body counter for determining identification, quantity, and location of internally deposited radioelements. Various techniques in accumulation of data are shown.

_Liquid Scintillation Counting_, 14 minutes, color and sound, 1958. Produced by the Jam Handy Organization for the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission. Describes the use of a liquid scintillator for counting low-energy beta emitters commonly used in biological and medical tracer experiments. Also describes counting techniques, how the counters work, and how a sample is prepared.

PHOTO CREDITS

Cover courtesy Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL) Figure 1 A, Argonne National Laboratory (ANL); B and C; LASL; D, Cornell University. Figure 2 LASL Figure 3 Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) Figure 5 LASL Figure 6 LASL Figure 7 BNL Figure 8 LASL Figure 9 LASL Figure 10 Dr. Charles E. Miller, ANL Figure 12 LASL Figure 13 National Reactor Testing Station Figure 18 BNL Figure 19 National Naval Medical Center Figure 20 LASL Figure 21 Colorado State University Figure 23 Cornell University Figure 24 Pacific Northwest Laboratory Center-spread Professor J. K. Miettinen, University of Helsinki

This booklet is one of the “Understanding the Atom” Series. Comments are invited on this booklet and others in the series; please send them to the Division of Technical Information, U. S. Atomic Energy Commission, Washington, D. C. 20545.

Published as part of the AEC’s educational assistance program, the series includes these titles:

NUCLEAR POWER AND MERCHANT SHIPPING PLUTONIUM OUR ATOMIC WORLD NUCLEAR ENERGY FOR DESALTING CONTROLLED NUCLEAR FUSION WHOLE BODY COUNTERS PLOWSHARE POPULAR BOOKS ON NUCLEAR SCIENCE SNAP, NUCLEAR SPACE REACTORS NUCLEAR REACTORS ATOMS, NATURE, AND MAN MICROSTRUCTURE OF MATTER SYNTHETIC TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS COMPUTERS RESEARCH REACTORS GENETIC EFFECTS OF RADIATION POWER FROM RADIOISOTOPES NONDESTRUCTIVE TESTING RARE EARTHS FOOD PRESERVATION BY IRRADIATION FALLOUT FROM NUCLEAR TESTS RADIOACTIVE WASTES RADIOISOTOPES IN INDUSTRY ATOMS AT THE SCIENCE FAIR RADIOISOTOPES AND LIFE PROCESSES ATOMIC FUEL ATOMIC POWER SAFETY DIRECT CONVERSION OF ENERGY CAREERS IN ATOMIC ENERGY RADIOISOTOPES IN MEDICINE ACCELERATORS NUCLEAR TERMS, A BRIEF GLOSSARY NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS ATOMS IN AGRICULTURE NUCLEAR CLOCKS POWER REACTORS IN SMALL PACKAGES NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS YOUR BODY AND RADIATION

A single copy of any one booklet, or of no more than three different booklets, may be obtained free by writing to:

USAEC, P. O. BOX 62, OAK RIDGE, TENNESSEE 37830

Complete sets of the series are available to school and public librarians, and to teachers who can make them available for reference or for use by groups. Requests should be made on school or library letterheads and indicate the proposed use.

Students and teachers who need other material on specific aspects of nuclear science, or references to other reading material, may also write to the Oak Ridge address. Requests should state the topic of interest exactly, and the use intended.

In all requests, include “Zip Code” in return address.

Printed in the United States of America USAEC Division of Technical Information Extension, Oak Ridge, Tennessee February 1967

FOOTNOTES

[1]This is mathematical shorthand for 1.08 followed by 24 zeros, or 1.08 million billion billion.

[2]Medicines such as “Radithor” and “Radium Water” were manufactured and sold before it was known that overexposure to radioactivity was harmful.

Transcriber’s Notes

--Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.

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--In the text versions only, other subscripted text is preceded by underscore and delimited by _{brackets}.