The staff here at Advanced Gauging Technologies recently completed our annual radiation training event. We do this in order to train new staff and offer a refresher to the rest. Each year, Dr. Laura Smith teaches us about the physics of atoms, nuclear binding forces, particle emissions, and a host of other cool nuclear physics topics.
In addition to all of the normal training material, relevant and current news topics always seem to find their way into the conversation. Items such as the Alexander Litvinenko poisoning with polonium-210 in 2006, the Fukushima nuclear reactor event in 2013, or the theft of radioactive Cobalt-60 medical material in Mexico last year lead to great training conversations about how radioactivity affects us in our everyday lives.
In the near future we plan on adding some of our training material to the website to help illustrate and explain how we use nuclear physics in our isotope thickness gauges. Stay tuned!