Historical and philosophical perspectives of ionizing radiation protection

Abstract:
Present day life has evolved through the showers of ionizing radiation
over centuries. Human beings are bombarded by ionizing radiation from the
sky, the earth and even from fellow human beings. With the socio-economic
advances in the use of various technologies, human beings find themselves
exposed to new sources of ionizing radiation at various turns of life.
While we accept the many benefits of ionizing radiation, our inability to
perceive it like the other day to day hazards invokes a certain phobia.
However, the effects of ionizing radiation have been and are being studied
extensively. We know more about radiation than we do about many other
biological hazards. Studies on the atom bomb survivors have shown it to be
a weak carcinogen. The risks from such high exposures are extrapolated to
low doses where none are observed to stipulate the current limits to the
occupational workers. In this talk, I will try to outline the evolution of
the philosophy and practices of radiation protection over the last few
decades.

About the Speaker:
Dr Sunil C  joined the Radiation Safety Systems Division in 1992 after
completing the one year health physics stipendiary training program
conducted by the Health Physics Division and has been working in the field
of accelerator radiation safety since then. He was the health physicist of
TIFR for about 15 years including the Pelletron-Linac accelerator facility
and the various labs in TIFR. He obtained his PhD from Mumbai University
in 2008 for his work on neutron spectrometry from heavy ion reactions and
analysis using statistical nuclear reaction models. He has expertise in
the field of neutron spectrometry and dosimtery, radiation shielding,
activation studies (He was involved in the activation studies of the CMS),
Monte Carlo radiation transport simulations, accelerator dosimetry, safety
aspects of accelerators and, of late, radiological safety aspects of
accelerator driven systems. He is a member of various committees such as
the Particle Accelerator Safety Committee of the BARC Safety council, the
working groups for the radiation shielding of Hadron therapy facilities
and for the preparation of safety guidelines for medical cyclotrons of the
AERB and the Nuclear Data Physics Centre of India (NDPCI).  He has about
80 publications in peer reviewed journals, books and conferences.