Permissible Dose: A History of Radiation Protection in the Twentieth Century / Edition 1

by J. Samuel Walker

Overview

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 1930s, and to their highly charged political and scientific history as well.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520223288
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	11/01/2000
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	182
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)
Lexile:	1590L (what's this?)

About the Author

J. Samuel Walker is the historian of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. His previous books include Containing the Atom (California, 1992) and (with George T.Mazuzan) Controlling the Atom (California, 1984).

Table of Contents

LIST OF FIGURES 
PREFACE 

1. 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 

Interviews

American citizens interested in the history of radiation protection and the federal government agency role  in developing standards to protect government employees exposed to radiation through their workplace roles and to protect American citizen's exposure may be interested in this text.

Environmental science, pre-med, and medical students, and professionals within these fields may also be interested in the 20th century history of radiation protection to compare with modern-day regulations.

Editorial Reviews

Testimonial #1: 
" A crisp and compelling assessment of the issues surrounding radiation protection ... Walker has a remarkable ability to
make complicated issues clear and easy to understand."  --Allan M. Winkler, author of The Atom and American Life

Testimonial #2:
"The concise and readable guide to the historical development of radiation protection standards by the federal government is exceptionally even-handed in discussing often controversial issues." --Barton C. Hacker, author if Elements of Controversy

From the Publisher