Fundamentals of radiation technology

The basic concepts are given from radiation technology, such as characterize the radiation source. The level of exposure is characterized by the absorbed dose. The radiation source proper is characterized by the nature of radiation, the energy of its particles, the directional characteristic of the emission and the emitted power. The efficiency of the use of the source is given by the ratio of absorbed and total emitted energy. The knowledge of the required dose, of the power and efficiency of the source may serve for deriving the production rate of the technological process, i.e., the amount of the product processed by radiation per unit of time. The main sources of ionizing radiation used in radiation technology are 60Co sources or electron accelerators. (J.B.)