1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910780082003321

Autore

Walker J. Samuel

Titolo

Permissible dose : a history of radiation protection in the twentieth century / / J. Samuel Walker

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berkeley, CA : , : University of California Press, , [2000]

©2001

ISBN

9786612356292

1-282-35629-1

0-520-92484-3

1-59734-804-X

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (183 p.)

Classificazione

AR 25700

Disciplina

363.17/996/0904

Soggetti

Nuclear energy - Law and legislation - United States - History

Radiation - Safety measures - History

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Figures -- Preface -- I. The Discovery of Radiation and Its Hazards -- 2. The Debate over Nuclear Power and Radiation -- 3. The Role of Federal Agencies in Radiation Protection -- 4. New Controversies, New Standards -- 5. The Ambiguities of Radiation Effects -- Essay on Sources -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

How much radiation is too much? J. Samuel Walker examines the evolution, over more than a hundred years, of radiation protection standards and efforts to ensure radiation safety for nuclear workers and for the general public. The risks of radiation-caused by fallout from nuclear bomb testing, exposure from medical or manufacturing procedures, effluents from nuclear power, or radioactivity from other sources-have aroused more sustained controversy and public fear than any other comparable industrial or environmental hazard. Walker clarifies the entire radiation debate, showing that permissible dose levels are a key to the principles and practices that have prevailed in the field of radiation protection since the 1930's, and to their highly charged political and scientific history as well.