John R. Dunning
Biochemical and medical tracers and health physics will be featured in the
applied nuclear chemistry and physics courses in the fall of 1996. To help in the transition we have a new edition of the text, Atoms, Radiation and Radiation Protection,by James E. Turner of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The laboratory part of the curriculum will include a tour of the nuclear medicine
department at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital and work with air sampling
equipment. The famous Hot Hair and Hot Rat experiments will be retained.
Major upgrades are planned for the laboratory. We are trying to fund a new, larger germanium detector, a low-level counting chamber, and a computer-based multichannel analyzer. The proposed system will have a factor of ten better minimum detection limit. This means we will be able to analyze air filter papers and some water samples directly. Using our in-house neutron source we will be able to detect milligram amounts of aluminum, arsenic, and twenty other elements. The Hot Hair Experiment uses Washington State University's reactor, and nanogram amounts of longer half-life elements should be detectable. Do you remember those gammas that did not fit the library we have? The software for the proposed new analyzer features a 40,000+ gamma ray library keyed to the Chart of the Nuclides.