Radiation safety is a complex and serious issue in any laboratory. How much shielding is necessary to achieve safe levels of exposure can only be determined by you or your laboratory's radiation safety specialist. Our acrylic shields are designed to reduce direct exposure from 32P ßeta radiation. We do not claim these shields will make your exposure level safe.

R. Shadel's radiation safety components are made from the finest acrylic and are always a safe 1/2" thick where needed. Developed with your working environment in mind, our radiation products promise to fit in any lab and provide years of service and safety.

*ADEQUATE SHIELDING INFORMATION

Because the absorption spectrum of acrylic has a peak at an energy level near the energy of a 32P ßeta emission, 1/2" acrylic on its own provides a remarkable level of direct incidence shielding from the high energy ßeta emissions from small amounts of radioactive phosphorus32. The absorption of these ßeta emissions in turn creates Bremsstrahlung, a secondary emission of high energy X-rays. This Bremsstrahlung is weakly absorbed by the acrylic. By gluing '/16" lead to the OUTSIDE of the acrylic the X-rays are strongly absorbed by the lead and improved shielding is provided.

Many researchers consider the acrylic alone adequate shielding due to the small quantities of 32P used and the need to see through the shield. Others are simply not aware of the X-ray phenomenon because they are monitoring their experiments with detectors (Geiger-Muller tubes) which are tuned to be sensitive to ßeta rather than X-rays.

Gamma emitting 1251 and Chromium are weakly absorbed by acrylic but are effectively shielded by lead. Thick lead also shields the secondary emmissions caused by the initial absorbtion. We recommend 1/8" lead on the INSIDE of the shields or boxes when shielding Gamma rays. In this configuration the acrylic is for structure only.

A sample acrylic block with lead can be ordered to place between your radiation source and detector to empirically determine adequate shielding. Varying thicknesses of acrylic, lead, and leaded glass for visibility are available for shielding. Call for a 2" square acrylic block with lead.