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Stephen Samson Mkoloma from Dar es Salaam Tanzania won a copy of Fundamentals of Health Physics & Radiation Protection, by Philip C. Fulmer, at the HPS Publications Booth book drawing at the IRPA 16/69th HPS Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida.

We gave away more than 50 great books and enjoyed meeting and talking with so many people about HPS publications and the HPS website!

Thank you to the authors, editors, and publishers who donated over $4,000 worth of books, including fiction and nonfiction, covering a wide range of topics.

If you saw a book that you would like, but didn't win, click on the links below for ordering information.

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer – Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin (available from Penguin Random House, ISBN 9780375726262)

An Introduction to Radiation Protection in Medicine – Edited by Jamie V. Trapp and Tomas Kron (available from Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, ISBN 9781584889649)

The Atomic City Girls – Janet Beard (available from HarperCollinsPublishers, ISBN: 9780062666710)

At Work in the Atomic City: A Labor and Social History of Oak Ridge, Tennessee – Russell B. Olwell (available from The University of Tennessee Press, ISBN 13: 978-1-57233-644-5, ISBN 10: 1-57233-644-7)

City Behind a Fence: Oak Ridge, Tennessee 1942–1946 – Charles W. Johnson and Charles O. Jackson (available from The University of Tennessee Press, ISBN: 978-0-87049-309-6)

Critical Connections: The University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge from the Dawn of the Atomic Age to the Present – Lee Riedinger, Al Ekkebus, Ray Smith, and William Bugg (available from The University of Tennessee Press, ISBN 13: 978-1621906544, ISBN 10: 162190654X)

Dead Hot – M.K. Coker (available from Amazon, ISBN-10: 1545120609, ISBN-13: ‎978-1545120606)

Decommissioning Health Physics: A Handbook for MARRSIM Users, Second Edition – Eric W. Abelquist (available from Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, ISBN: 9780367867133)

Environmental Health, Fourth Edition – Dade W. Moeller (available from Harvard University Press, ISBN: 9780674047402)

Fundamentals of Health Physics & Radiation Protection – Dr. Philip C. Fulmer (available from Amazon, ISBN-13: ‎979-8989597901)

The Girls of Atomic City – Denise Kernan (available from Simon & Schuster, ISBN: 978-1-4516-1752-8)

The Health Physics Solutions Manual, Third Edition – Thomas E. Johnson (available from Pastime Publications, ISBN-10: 1929169051, ISBN-13: 978-1929169054)

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – Rebecca Skloot (available from Penguin Random House, ISBN 978-1-4000-5218-9)

Khan’s The Physics of Radiation Therapy, Sixth Edition – John P. Gibbons (available from Wolters Kluwer, ISBN: 9781496397522)

Laser Safety Management – Ken Barat (available from CRC Press, ISBN 9780824723071)

Low Dose Radiation: The History of the U.S. Department of Energy Research Program – Antone L. Brooks (available from WSU Press, ISBN: 978-0-87422-354-5)

Nuclear Medicine Physics: A Handbook for Teachers and Students – D.L. Bailey, J.L. Humm, A. Todd-Pokropek, and A. van Aswegen (available from International Atomic Energy Agency, ISBN: 978-92-0-143810-2)

Principles of Nuclear Radiation Detection – Geoffrey G. Eichholz and John W. Poston (available from Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, ISBN: 9781315895970)

Quantitative Environmental Risk Analysis for Human Health, Second Edition – Robert A. Fjeld, Timothy A. DeVol, and Nicole E. Martinez (available from Wiley, ISBN: 978-1-119-67532-7)

Radiation Answers: Answers to Your Questions About Radiation and You – Health Physics Society (out of print, ISBN: 978-0-9825161-0-2)

Radiation Protection: The Essential Guide for Technologists, Second Edition – Thomas E. Johnson (available from Pastime Publications, ISBN-10: 1929169-16-0, ISBN-13: 978-1929169160)

Radiation Protection: The Essential Workbook for Technologists – Thomas E. Johnson (available from Pastime Publications, ISBN-10: 1929169078, ISBN-13: 978-1929169078)

Radiation Protection: Solutions Manual – David J. Dolan and Thomas E. Johnson (available from Pastime Publications, ISBN-10: 1929169153, ISBN-13: 978-1929169153)

Radiation Protection: The Essential Guide for Canadian Technologists – Thomas E. Johnson and Francis E. Tourneur (available from Pastime Publications, ISBN-10: 1929169-17-7, ISBN-13: 978-1929169-17-7)

Radiation Protection: The Essential Workbook for Canadian Technologists – Thomas E. Johnson and Francis E. Tourneur (available from Pastime Publications, ISBN-10: 1929169-21-4, ISBN-13: 978-1929169-21-4)

Radiation Protection: Canadian Solutions Manual – David J. Dolan, Francis E. Tourneur, and Thomas E. Johnson (available from Pastime Publications, ISBN-10: 1929169-18-4, ISBN-13: 978-1929169-18-4)

Radiation Protection in Medical Imaging and Radiation Oncology – Edited by Richard J. Vetter and Magdalena S. Stoeva (available from Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, ISBN: 978-0-367-57521-2)

Radiation Risks in Perspective – Kenneth L. Mossman (available from Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, ISBN: 9780367453435)

Radioactive Air Sampling Methods – Edited by Mark L. Maiello and Mark D. Hoover (available from Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, ISBN: 9780849397172)

Radiobiology for the Radiologist, Eighth Edition – Eric J. Hall and Amato J. Giaccia (available from Wolters Kluwer, ISBN-13: 978-1-4963-3541-8, ISBN-10: 1-4963-3541-4)

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women – Kate Moore (available from Sourcebooks, ISBN: 978-1-4926-5095-9)

Silent Source – Jim Smith (available from Amazon, ISBN: 978-1939398703)

Understanding Radiation Science: Basic Nuclear and Health Physics – James Mannie Shuler (available from Universal Publishers, ISBN: 1-58112-907-6)

X-Ray Imaging: Fundamentals, Industrial Techniques and Applications – Harry E. Martz, Jr., Clint M. Logan, Daniel J. Schneberk, and Peter J. Shull (available from Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, ISBN: 9780849397721)

Do you have experience in reviewing clinical studies involving human medical research where the subjects are exposed to ionizing radiation? You are invited to participate in the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) Task Group 126: Radiological Protection in Human Biomedical Research Survey on Human Medical Research Using Ionizing Radiation.

This short survey is underway until 15 August 2024 and will help in the understanding of current practices in regulations and education and training in human health research involving ionizing radiation. Your support will contribute to development of international guidelines, which can be used by local legislative regulatory bodies and ethics review boards to guide decision-making. The completion time is no more than 5 minutes.

For more information see the ICRP website Task Group 126 page.

To participate in the survey, click here.

Bridget Smith, Chapter Secretary

The San Diego Chapter of the Health Physics Society (HPS) met online on 11 June 2024. Dr. Armin Ansari, director of the Center for Science and Technology at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Radiation and Indoor Air/Radiation Protection Division shared "An Update from the US EPA Radiation Protection Program." Members appreciated learning about a number of soon-to-be-released guidance documents including "MARSSIM Revision 2" and the development of "FGR 16 Cancer Risk Coefficients for Environmental Exposure to Radionuclides." Armin also shared the history and current mission of the EPA's support of radiation protection initiatives and its advisory role to the president of the United States. Armin highlighted the challenge of recruiting students to consider health physics professions. He encouraged us to read the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements document National Crisis: Where Are the Radiation Professionals? and noted that the EPA offers student internships. Students can find more information on the EPA Students page. You can watch Armin's talk on the San Diego HPS Chapter YouTube channel.

The San Diego Chapter will hold its next live social on 16 August at Gravity Heights in Sorrento Valley, 6:30–9 pm. Local company Polypeptides Inc. will be hosting our next in-person meeting on 4 September. The speaker will be Ron Yonemitsu, senior health physicist in the Community Health Division for the County of San Diego. At our September meeting, we will also be inviting members who attended the IRPA16/69th HPS Annual Meeting to share their experiences.

The National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) is proud to announce the publication of NCRP Commentary No. 34, Recommendations on Statistical Approaches to Account for Dose Uncertainties in Radiation Epidemiologic Risk Models.

Accurate exposure estimation in radiation epidemiologic studies is essential for reliable health risk assessment. NCRP Commentary No. 34 evaluates multiple, commonly used, statistical approaches used to account for uncertainties in dosimetry estimates and reviews the application of various uncertainty estimation techniques.

This commentary reviews the strengths and weaknesses of eight different statistical methods for characterizing uncertainty prominent in the current literature:

• Simulation extrapolation.
• Regression calibration.
• Likelihood-based methods.
• Markov chain Monte Carlo.
• Two-dimensional Monte Carlo with Bayesian model averaging.
• Frequentist model averaging.
• Corrected information matrix.
• Moment reconstruction and moment-adjusted imputation.

Uncertainties in dose are ubiquitous in radiation epidemiology studies, and failure to adjust for dose uncertainties in statistical analyses can result in incorrect estimation and inference regarding radiation health effects. Each analysis method to adjust for dosimetric uncertainty has advantages and disadvantages that need to be considered in each individual application.

Throughout the commentary, examples from large and well-characterized epidemiologic cohorts are provided to demonstrate applications of the statistical concepts presented; they are not intended to be exhaustive. Furthermore, while most of the examples pertain to ionizing radiation, the statistical methods reviewed are applicable to both ionizing and nonionizing radiation. The commentary also includes recommended methods to account for dosimetric uncertainty.

View or purchase NCRP Commentary No. 34.

A new thread has been started under the Decommissioning Section category in the Members Forum on the Health Physics Society (HPS) website. The message provides a link to the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management EM Update bulletin, Vol. 16, Issue 23.

To join the discussion, HPS members should log in to Members Only and then click here.

Charles Wilson and Emily Caffrey

 

The largest Health Physics Society (HPS) meeting in years just wrapped up. When new challenges occur, we have the opportunity to grow stronger. The HPS Program Committee tried several new things during the IRPA 16/69th HPS Annual Meeting and we are eager to get feedback from the rest of the community. A few specific highlights include:

1. CELs at 7:45 am and the technical program at 9:00 am.
2. Blind peer reviews of all abstracts.
3. Scheduled Q&A at the end of sessions.
4. More 20-minute talks.
5. Plenary Panel Discussions.

CELs (refresher courses) had a much higher attendance than usual. It seems like attendees appreciated the extra hour of sleep or being able to visit with colleagues a little later.

Our new program-management software includes the ability to digitally send out abstracts for blind review and ratings. For many reasons, we believe this will drastically improve the quality of the program. If you'd like to be a peer reviewer, please reach out to HPSPCannual@hps.org right after the abstract deadlines.

There were also challenges that we struggled with and hope to omit in the future. These included app duplication bugs, lack of Wi-Fi, visa complications, and a printed program. While not all of these are within our control, we can better prepare and organize for them. We plan to change the format of the printed program to include program at a glance, exhibitors, and notes only. This will increase our flexibility to respond to program changes after printing.

Do you have feedback on the meeting or recommendations for improvement? Reach out to us at HPSPCannual@hps.org!

Liz Brackett, HPS President 2023–2025

As mentioned in the Chapter and Section Councils Update on 27 June, those meetings will be held virtually this year. The Section Council has been scheduled for 19 August at 3:00 pm EDT and the Chapter Council for 20 August at 3:00 pm EDT.

Everyone is invited to attend the councils. Links and the agendas will be forthcoming in the HPS website Current News area, but for now, put the dates on your calendars.

Brant Ulsh, CHP, PhD, Health Physics Editor in Chief

Big changes are coming! We are happy to announce that as of 1 January 2025, page charges to publish articles in Health Physics and Operational Radiation Safety will be eliminated. Since I took over as editor in chief of the Journal in 2017, page charges (the price authors pay to publish their work in the Journal) have consistently generated the most complaints, and we have been looking for a way to eliminate them for years. Unfortunately, we simply had no alternative way to cover the mailing, paper, printing, and binding costs associated with publishing Health Physics. Until now, that is.

Starting in January 2025, the Journal will be moving to an online-only format, as so many other scientific journals already have. It has been obvious for years that this is the direction the scientific publishing industry is moving, and we would have to make this move eventually. We have endured a competitive disadvantage compared to similar journals who don't assess page charges, and this has contributed to periodic droughts in manuscript submissions. Nonetheless, we serve the members of the Health Physics Society, and we know that some of our readers prefer the hard-copy version of the Journal, so we have moved cautiously.

We finally reached a tipping point in January 2024 when our publisher presented cost projections and showed that we could eliminate page charges if we made the inevitable move to online only. On the other hand, as production costs continue to escalate, the Journal's financial environment would deteriorate if we continued to do things the way we always have with a hard-copy version. It simply became fiscally untenable to continue to delay this inevitable move online.

For those of you who access the Journal electronically already, the change will be seamless. For those of you who prefer the hard copy, we humbly ask for your understanding of the fiscal environment we are facing. We will continue to bring you a high-quality journal, just as we always have.

Find the August 2024 issue of Health Physics here.

HPS Membership Committee

Did you sign up to become a Health Physics Society (HPS) member at the IRPA 16/69th HPS Annual Meeting in Orlando? If so, you received the discount offered in celebration of the first IRPA International Congress held in the United States in 51 years.

If not, there is still time to take advantage of the discount. Between now and 30 September 2024, non-HPS members new to the HPS can pay just $52 for an HPS membership lasting until 31 December 2025. Applications must be completed online. Click here to join.

We encourage you to share this offer with your non-HPS peers, counterparts, and professional contacts across your respective industries. Tell your friends and coworkers not to miss out on this limited-time opportunity!

If you have any questions, please contact Andrew Najjar.

The July short course offerings have been posted on the Short Courses page of the HPS website. Information on the following courses is available:

Radiation Safety Officer (RSO) School and Refresher Class—RSO Services, Inc.

Facility Decommissioning Training Course—Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)

Medical Radiation Safety Officer Training—ORAU's Professional Training Programs

Radiation Safety Officer Training—ORAU's Professional Training Programs

Laser Safety Officer (LSO) Training—Kentek Corporation

Kevin Nelson, IRPA VP for Congress Affairs, IRPA 16 Organizing Committee Chair

 

As I write this piece for the newsletter, IRPA 16 is only about a week away. I truly hope Health Physics Society (HPS) members take advantage of this unique opportunity to attend an IRPA International Congress. We have had over 880 abstracts submitted from 67 countries. Two hundred twenty (220) oral presentations covering 11 main areas will be presented as well as over 450 posters. The world is smaller than you think, and this is a chance to discuss common issues with our radiation protection colleagues from around the world. Astronaut Norman Thagard will be providing the Landauer Lecture at the Monday morning plenary. Scientists from the International Commission on Radiological Protection, National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, International Atomic Energy Agency, World Health Organization, United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, and other radiation protection organizations will be giving presentations throughout the week. This will be the first time in 51 years that an IRPA International Congress has been held in the United States. Who knows when this opportunity will avail itself again?

Fifty-one years ago, as the US was about to host its first IRPA International Congress in 1973, my counterpart at the time, Claire C. Palmiter, wrote an article for the newsletter titled "IRPA – What Is in It for Us." The article concludes with a quote from then HPS Past President W.T. Ham:

"The question is not 'what is in it for us' but rather 'will such a move improve the status of radiation protection throughout the world.' It is the firm belief of the [HPS] Board of Directors and of prominent health physicists in other countries that this question can be answered in the affirmative. Furthermore, the Society would be promoting democratic principles at a time when they are badly needed in many parts of the world."

It is my belief this is still very true today.

I hope to see you in Orlando!

Dan Sowers, Chapter President

The Virginia Chapter of the Health Physics Society hosted its annual meeting at Surry Nuclear Power Station on 24 June 2024. The meeting included a fascinating and educational tour of Surry along with talks from Nick Dorrell and Emily Caffrey. Safe, clean, reliable nuclear power from Surry charges Dan's Model Y Tesla every night, which we all rightly consider to be a nuclear-powered vessel.

Wayne Glines, Health Physics News Contributing Editor

Click the links below to access the recordings of some recent events of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). All available recordings can be found through the ICRP Events Page.

• ICRP 2023 Session Recordings
• 30 Years of Scientific Achievements for International Radiological Protection: Summary of the Southern Urals Health Studies Program
• Radiological Protection in Areas Contaminated by Past Activities

Rod Reed and Matthew Barnett, Accredited Standards Committee N13, Radiation Protection

ANSI/HPS N13.45-2024, Incineration of Low-Level Radioactive Waste, was recently issued. It is available to HPS members on the Members Only side of the Health Physics Society website and to members of the public at the Accuris standards store for $60.

The ANSI/HPS N13.45 standard addresses the following topics on low-level radioactive waste incineration: objectives, a glossary of terms, acronyms, identification of waste sources, selection of incinerator equipment, incinerator siting considerations, administrative and operational controls, monitoring program, disposal of residues, documentation, decontamination and decommissioning, licensing and permitting requirements, a discussion of major agencies that regulate air quality, modeling methods, and a bibliography. The standard also has a flowchart for process flow for the incineration of combustible liquid waste, liquid scintillation cocktail, biological waste, and combustible solid waste.

It is intended to provide minimum requirements for incineration of low-level radioactive waste that is generated at facilities such as medical centers, universities, and research institutions. It describes the identification and characterization of wastes, selection and siting of incineration equipment, licensing and permitting requirements, control and monitoring, disposal of residues, documentation, and decontamination and decommissioning.

This standard is not intended to address nonradiological issues associated with incineration; however, it is not feasible to separate them completely. The low-level radioactive waste that would be a candidate for incineration would have a composition of materials that affect the incineration. To properly operate a combustion device, the other pollutants of interest need to be controlled as well, and it is hoped that many of the radionuclides would be captured in the process. It is also recognized that the incineration process and the flue gas cleaning process are both crucial elements of the incineration process and maintaining compliance.

ANSI/HPS N13.45-2024 updates the 2012 version to reflect current technical and regulatory requirements and guidance. It incorporates contemporary information and is intended to be consistent with current US regulatory requirements or guidance. The process of licensing and permitting an incinerator will require a thorough knowledge of state and local regulations that may be more stringent than this standard. Institutions may wish to refer to this standard when discussing licensing or permitting requirements with regulators.

The following individuals were members of the working group:

• Rodican P. Reed, Health Physics Consultant, WG Chair
• Hans Arlt, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission
• Kara Beharry, AECOM
• Britt Edquist, Idaho Cleanup Project
• Glenn M. Sturchio, Mayo Clinic
• Mark A. Tries, University of Massachusetts Lowell
• Christopher D. Vanderpool, Hopewell Designs, Inc.

Consultant

• Brian Parsons, Energy Solutions

David J. Allard, CHP, Committee Chair

The History Committee (HC) has been meeting via regular Zoom calls through 2023 and 2024. Many old Health Physics Society (HPS) meeting photos have been organized by Jim Willison and posted on the website. And we are also working on several In Memoriam write-ups of HPS members who have passed. A major task in coming months will be the review and update of posted HC materials for the new HPS website that is currently being designed. We want to ensure key HC materials and work products are maintained and available to members and (if appropriate) the public.

A good example of such materials are the video interviews with senior members. However, since the passing of our former HC chairperson (Ray Johnson), we continue to search for missing media (i.e., hard drives, tapes, and DVDs) containing dozens of interviews with senior members performed over some 20+ years. It is believed that Ray may have given these media to someone to digitize; however, we have no record of who that might be. If anyone knows where these materials are, please contact me.

Nonetheless, we have begun these interviews again and have posted two new ones—with Ruth McBurney and Ron Kathren. We would encourage Society members and all HPS chapters to review the posted interviews and consider performing an interview via zoom with an HPS senior member. These can be fun to do, and if you're interested, please contact me for the normal question set used and the contact at the Secretariat who can assist with the recording and posting.

The HC has also located digital versions of the FDA's Vignettes of Early Radiation Workers. There are two dozen fascinating interviews by Dr. Lauriston S. Taylor of early medical and health physicists done in the late 1970s. The video files are being reviewed for quality, and the hope is to have them posted in the next few months.

Lastly, we've recently contacted the University of Tennessee (UT) Knoxville, where the HPS archives are located. Given the past few pandemic years limited our access, we wanted to connect with the appropriate UT staff. It is our understanding that the Society's materials are being maintained; however, they are unable to take any additional papers from the HPS or chapters. This raises the question of how to preserve and make the materials available for use by members and scholars. Stay tuned as we work through this issue.

History Committee – http://hps.org/aboutthesociety/organization/committees/committee7.html

Pictorial History of the Health Physics Society – http://hps.org/meetings/pictorial-history.html, http://hps.org/meetings/myphotos/index.html

In Memoriam – http://hps.org/aboutthesociety/people/inmemoriam/

HPS History Committee Interviews – http://hps.org/media/hps_videos_history-committee-interviews.html

Health Physics Society's official archives at UT Knoxville – http://hps.org/aboutthesociety/historyandmission/utarchive.html

Liz Brackett, HPS President, 2023–2025

By now you might be tired of hearing about the IRPA 16/69th HPS Annual Meeting, but the time is finally here! It's packed with a lot of activities and more technical presentations than the typical HPS meeting. This has been in the planning stages for more than a decade so we're very excited about it. You'll probably hear more about it in other articles in this newsletter, so I'd like to focus on our chapters here.

In recent years, chapters have faced challenges with declining membership and a lack of willing volunteers, worsened by the pandemic. Despite losing some chapters, there's a positive shift as some are now experiencing a resurgence. I've seen several meeting notices on LinkedIn and my own local chapter, New England, recently held a live meeting with more than 50 attendees, thanks primarily to the efforts of Rusty Lorenzen and Andrew Najjar.

We've had similar challenges at the national level, so we don't always manage to provide as much support as the chapters request. We're still working to find the most effective ways to support the chapters and I welcome your thoughts on the matter. The Society Rules (the rules) require that we convene the Chapter and Section Councils at least once each year during the annual meeting. The Board voted to suspend the rules this year and hold the Chapter and Section Councils virtually after the meeting. In addition to having a busier than usual schedule during the annual meeting, this move comes after feedback from last year's meetings, where many chapters favored virtual gatherings for increased member participation. Dates for these virtual councils, likely in September, are yet to be finalized. We'll also be pursuing a revision to the rules to allow for a more flexible council schedule.

Stay tuned for notices about the council schedule, as well as updates on the revised rules to accommodate this preference and ensure inclusivity. Your input is valuable as we work towards a more flexible council schedule.

A new thread has been started under the Decommissioning Section category in the Members Forum on the Health Physics Society (HPS) website. The message provides a link to the latest issue of the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management EM Update bulletin, Vol. 17, Issue 23.

To join the discussion, HPS members should log in to Members Only and then click here.

Text and photos courtesy of William (Rusty) Lorenzen, FHPS, Chapter President

On 18 June 2024, the New England Chapter of the Health Physics Society (NECHPS) held its annual meeting at the Bentley University Conference Center in Waltham, Massachusetts. This was the first live annual meeting event the chapter has had since 2019. The meeting was attended by over 60 members and supported by 10 vendors. The agenda consisted of a variety of topics including laser safety, advanced reactors, the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office Securing the Cities program, emergency response, current trends in radiopharmaceuticals, dosimetry comparison study, and two student presentations on the evaluation of lanthanum-bromide detectors and the assessment of aerial radiation detectors.

 

 

Congratulations to the recipients of the following Health Physics Society (HPS) awards, which will be presented in July during the IRPA 16/69th HPS Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida.

Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award – Dr. Darrell Fisher

Elda E. Anderson Award – John Klump

Distinguished Public Service Award – Ken Groves

Health Physics Honor Roll – Fred Haywood, East Tennessee Chapter

2024 Fellows (alphabetical) – J. Matthew Barnett, Jason Harris, William (Bill) Irwin, Derek W. Jokisch, CHP, Carolyn MacKenzie, CHP, Matthew C. McFee, CHP, Steven E. Rademacher, CHP, Rodican P. Reed, CHP, Sergey Tolmachev, Richard T. Whitman

G. William Morgan Lectureship Award – Valeriia Starovoitova

Robert S. Landauer, Sr., Lectureship Award – Norman E. Thagard, MD

Dade Moeller Lectureship Award – Charles Daniel Ferguson

HPS Web Operations

Did you know that the Health Physics Society website includes an application that allows you to calculate the activity of a radionuclide after a specified interval of time? Just go to the Decay Calculator page and select a radionuclide to get started. You will then be taken to a page where you can enter an amount, select the units, and enter the beginning and ending date/time of activity. Then just click the = button to make the decay calculation.

Share this helpful tool with your friends and coworkers!

Wayne Glines, Health Physics News Contributing Editor

The National Academies announces the publication of two new reports.

Nuclear Terrorism: Assessment of US Strategies to Prevent, Counter, and Respond to Weapons of Mass Destruction

A public report release webinar will be held 18 June 2024, 2–3 pm ET for Nuclear Terrorism: Assessment of US Strategies to Prevent, Counter, and Respond to Weapons of Mass Destruction.

For nearly eight decades, the world has been navigating the dangers of the nuclear age. Despite Cold War tensions and the rise of global terrorism, nuclear weapons have not been used in conflict since Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Efforts such as strategic deterrence, arms control and nonproliferation agreements, and the US-led global counterterrorism have helped to keep nuclear incidents at bay. However, the nation's success to date in countering nuclear terrorism does not come with a guarantee–success often carries the risk that other challenges will siphon away attention and resources and can lead to the perception that the threat no longer exists.

This report found that US efforts to counter nuclear or radiological terrorism are not keeping pace with the evolving threat landscape. The US government should maintain a strategic focus and effort on combatting terrorism across the national security community in coordination with international partners; state, local, tribal and territorial authorities, the national laboratories; universities and colleges; and civil society. Developing and sustaining adequate nuclear incident response and recovery capabilities at the local and state levels will likely require significant new investments in resources and empowerment of local response from Federal Emergency Management Agency, working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, and National Institutes of Health.

Get the report

Read the report highlights

Join the livestream public webinar
 

Chemical Terrorism: Assessment of US Strategies in the Era of Great Power Competition

Domestic and foreign violent extremist organizations, or terrorist groups, have caused a greater amount of harm with chemical agents than with biological or radiological weapons. The United States capacity and capability to identify, prevent, counter, and respond adequately to chemical threats is established by the strategies, policies, and laws enacted across multiple levels of government. While the number of chemical terrorism incidents has risen and fallen over time, there is no empirical or analytical indication that the threat is disappearing.

Chemical Terrorism: Assessment of US Strategies in the Era of Great Power Competition comes at a time when the nation's highest-level strategies have shifted from focusing primarily on violent extremist organizations to focusing more on Great Power Competition. This shift in relative perceived threat and consequent prioritization will impact efforts against chemical terrorism and, in turn, affect funding priorities. Revised risk assessments are needed to reprioritize risks guided by new strategies so strategy-aligned budgets can be created. The report recommends weapons of mass destruction budgets be aligned with evolving priorities and incentivize activities that transition promising research to operations.

Get the report

Health Physics Society (HPS) member F. Morgan Cox died 7 December 2023. His obituary can be found on the Dignity Memorial website. An In Memoriam piece will be posted on the HPS website at a future date.

Do you have professional health physics books you no longer use but that would be helpful to someone else in the field? As you clean out your office, consider listing the books you want to share on the HP Professional Book Sharing page on the Health Physics Society (HPS) website.

Are you looking for professional health physics books, but have a limited budget? Peruse the titles on the HP Professional Book Sharing page and see if any fit your needs. Then contact the person giving away the book to arrange shipping. The book giver and receiver are responsible for arranging and paying for shipping. The upcoming annual meeting would be a good time to deliver books to each other to avoid having to ship them.

To have a book that you want to give away listed on the page, email HPS News Editor Mary Walchuk a photo of the cover; the title, author, publisher, and publication date; and your email address and we will list your book(s).

Health Physics News will not be published on 15 July 2024. We will publish a 1 July issue and then after the IRPA 16/69th Health Physics Society (HPS) Annual Meeting, we will be busily preparing our annual meeting photo highlights and continuing work on preparing for the new HPS website. News items will still be posted in the Current News section of the HPS website from time to time, but a newsletter recap will not be emailed to members until 1 August. Then we will be back on our regular two-issues-a-month schedule.

Add the dates of the following Health Physics Society meetings to your calendar. Check the Meetings and Conferences page of the website for the most current information.

• 2024 IRPA 16th International Congress/69th HPS Annual Meeting
  7–12 July 2024, Rosen Shingle Creek, Orlando, FL
• 70th HPS Annual Meeting
  13–17 July, 2025, Monona Terrace Convention Center, Madison, WI
• 71st HPS Annual Meeting
  5–9 July 2026, Gaylord National Harbor, MD

HPS Section Awards

Accelerator Section

 

Academic, Industrial, and Research Radiation Safety Section

 

Professional Education Program

Continuing Education Lectures

 

Professional Enrichment Program

 

Professional Development School

 

Bingo in the Exhibit Hall

 

Photos courtesy of Edward Wallace unless otherwise indicated

Elda Anderson Breakfast

 

2023 Members Meeting

 

IRPA 16 Planning Meeting

 

Science Teacher Workshop

 

Public Information Committee

 

Speaker Ready Room

 

Registration Desk

 

HPS Garage Sale

 

Student Travel Grant Recipients

 

Out and About in National Harbor

 

 

 

 

Military Health Physics Section

 

Women in Radiation Protection Section

Photos courtesy of Edward Wallace

Photos courtesy of Edward Wallace

 

 

AAHP Distinguished Membership 2023
Kenneth Skrable, George Chabot, Kathryn Pryor, Kim Kearfott, Frazier Bronson,
Paul Ziemer, Ruth McBurney, Richard Toohey, Ken Kase, and Kent Lambert

 

Photos courtesy of Edward Wallace

Homeland Security and Emergency Response Section

Homeland Security and Emergency Response Section Award
Jacob Kamen

 

Military Health Physics Section

John C. Taschner Leadership Award
Jeffrey S. Caudill

 

Superior Civilian Service Award
Julie A. Clements

 

Young Military Health Physicist of the Year Award
Aure J. Stewart

 

Women in Radiation Protection Section

Inclusivity Award
Lisa Manglass

 

Photos courtesy of Edward Wallace unless otherwise indicated

Elda E. Anderson Award
Deepesh Poudel

 

Elda E. Anderson Award Acceptance Speech

Deepesh Poudel

Good afternoon,

I feel quite anxious at giving speeches, and even contemplated just waving from my seat, but I feel like it is important for me to step out of my comfort zone and express my gratitude to the wonderful people who have helped me get to where I am.

First on the list are Dr. Richard Brey and Dr. Jason Harris, my professors at Idaho State University. In 2010, I was an undergrad at Idaho State University enrolled in the biology program, but I also wanted to study physics, chemistry, and more. I was flipping through the undergraduate catalog and stumbled upon the health physics program—it had a little bit of everything I wanted to study: physics, biology, computer science, and mathematics! I emailed Dr. Brey right away, talked to him for an hour, talked to Dr. Harris, and I was convinced right there that it was the right field for me. Three degrees in health physics and 12 years later, here I am accepting this incredible honor! I am so grateful to Dr. Brey and Dr. Harris for not only teaching me the fundamentals of health physics, but also instilling in me the love for the field and for always, always being there for me, no matter what I needed.

I must also express my gratitude to Eric Krage, my classmate from Idaho State University, who encouraged me to "get out there" and got me into this addicting—and rewarding—path of volunteering for the Society.

I want to thank my current and past bosses at Los Alamos National Laboratory—Dr. Milan Gadd, Stephanie Archuleta, Jeff Hoffman, and Maria Nappi—for their relentless efforts to overcome the challenges of my foreign nationality and ensuring I could continue my work at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). I am so thankful that my team lead at LANL, Dr. John Klumpp, thought I was the right fit for the job—I am very grateful that he provides an exceptional working environment that allows me to learn and grow. I am so grateful to have gotten a chance to work with Dr. Luiz Bertelli and Dr. Ray Guilmette and for the opportunities to continuously bother them with many questions. I am grateful for the opportunities to collaborate with incredible people in the field: Sergei Tolmachev, Guthrie Miller, Dunstana Melo, Maia Avtandilashvili, Sara Dumit, and George Tabatadze—I have learned so much from them! I am very grateful to Dr. Thomas Johnson for working with me together on many of the things I do for the Society.

I want to thank Dr. Charles Wilson from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) for convincing me that I am a suitable candidate for this award and for putting together the nomination package. I am also thankful to Dr. Emily Caffrey—my role model when it comes to service for the Society—for writing the letter of support. I want to thank Dr. Craig Little and many of the people I mentioned earlier—Drs. Brey, Caffrey, Harris, Johnson, Tolmachev, and Wilson—for their supporting letters.

I would not be standing here without the support of my wife Ramila—her boundless love and her constant presence have been my source of strength. She believes in me more than anyone else does—perhaps not as much as my team leader but definitely more than myself. I am thankful to have someone like her by my side for the last 15 years, constantly reminding me of my potential. I am thankful to my parents for allowing me to leave Nepal to pursue a better future in the Unites States. Now that I am a father myself—I have a 2-year-old—I understand the pain and suffering my parents endured in letting me come to a country thousands of miles away, where I knew no one and barely spoke the language. I am so glad they made that sacrifice for me.

Finally, I want to thank the Health Physics Society that has given me so much over the last decade or so, from travel grants to scholarships and fellowships, but most importantly, for the network it exposed me to and for the opportunities it provided me. I hope to give back to the Society as much as it has given me.

I also hope to be able to live up to the expectations of the award. I was at the award breakfast on Monday, and I looked around at the remarkable individuals who have previously received the award, including my own professors and other individuals I deeply admire. I am incredibly humbled, and I can't help but acknowledge that I still have much to learn and accomplish on my journey! To me, the award is more of a reminder of what I still must do than it is a testament to my accomplishments so far.

Thank you!

 

Elda Anderson Breakfast

 

Founders Award
David Connolly

 

Geoffry G. Eichholz Outstanding Science Teacher Award
Ann Marie Dubick

 

Fellows of the Health Physics Society

 

Lectureship Awards

 

HPS 50-Year Members

 

 

50-Year Affiliate Member: ORTEC

 

Student Fellowships

Burton J. Moyer Fellowship
Bryanna Wattier, Clemson University

Health Physics Society Fellowship
Anilu Diaz, Francis Marion University

Health Physics Society Fellowship
Heechan Lee, Georgia Institute of Technology

Robert Gardner Memorial Fellowship
Ignacio Bartol, Georgia Institute of Technology

Robert S. Landauer, Sr., Memorial Fellowship
Dmitri Margot, Georgia Institute of Technology

Richard J. Burk, Jr., Fellowship
Annelise Gonzales, Clemson University

J. Newell Stannard Memorial Fellowship
Emmanuel Mate-Kole, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dade W. Moeller Scholarship
Suman Shrestha, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Dade W. Moeller Scholarship Memorializing Kelly Austin
Anna Manfredo, Illinois Institute of Technology

F. Ward Whicker Scholarship
Jonathan Whipple, Oregon University

 

Student Travel Grant Recipients

Sherry Adadi, Georgia Institute of Technology

Johnson Aina, Idaho State University

Andrea Alipio, University of Santo Tomas

Samuel Arnold (AIRRS), University of Alabama at Birmingham

Eric Ofosu Asare, University of Ghana-School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences

Melissa Bailey, Oregon State University

Alex Baty (Decommissioning), University of Alabama at Birmingham

Ridhita Binte Borhan (Decommissioning), University of Massachusetts Lowell

Chandler Burgos (AIRRS), Purdue University

Christine Dulohan, University of Santo Tomas Graduate School

Mohammad Omar Faruque Fahim, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Jacob Farkas (Decommissioning), Purdue University

David Gonzalez, Georgia Institute of Technology

Thomas Grier, Purdue University

Philip Gyan, KEPCO International Nuclear Graduate School

Christina Hewett, Illinois Institute of Technology

Chukwuka James, Alcorn State University

Elif Kara, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

Maruf Hassan Khan (Decommissioning), Purdue University, West Lafayette

Joeun Lee, Purdue University

William Lynn (Decommissioning), University of Alabama at Birmingham

Arielle Miller (Medical Health Physics), University of Alabama at Birmingham

Martin Murungi, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Stephen Reed, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Andrew Rosenstrom, Georgia Institute of Technology

Ricky Sahagun, Purdue University

Abdullahi Shittu, King Abdulaziz University

Lancer Smith (Medical Health Physics), University of Alabama at Birmingham

Sarah Sublett, Colorado State University

Theodore Thomas, Purdue University

Yi Wei, Georgia Institute of Technology

Paige Witter, Colorado State University

 

Photos courtesy of Edward Wallace unless otherwise indicated

Plenary Sessions

 

Internal Dosimetry Session

 

American Academy of Health Physics Special Session

Thank you to the following publishers and authors who donated books for the Publications Booth book drawing in the exhibit hall at the 68th Health Physics Society Annual Meeting. If you would like to purchase one of the books, links for ordering are provided.

• Dead Hot: A Dakota Mystery – M.K. Coker (available at amazon.com, ISBN: 978-1545120606)
• Environmental Health, 4th Edition – Dade Moeller (available from Harvard University Press, www.hup.harvard.edu, ISBN: 978-0674047402)
• The Essential Physics of Medical Imaging, Fourth Edition – Jerrold T. Bushberg, J. Anthony Seibert, Edwin M. Leidholdt, Jr., and John M. Boone (available from Wolters Kluwer, ISBN: 978-1975103224)
• The Essential Physics of Medical Imaging Study Guide – Jerrold T. Bushberg, J. Anthony Seibert (available from Wolters Kluwer, ISBN: 978-1975103262)
• The Health Physics Solutions Manual, 3rd Edition – Thomas E. Johnson (available at amazon.com, ISBN: 978-1929169054)
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – Rebecca Skloot (available at amazon.com, ISBN: 978-1400052189)
• Low Dose Radiation: The History of the U.S. Department of Energy Research Program – Antone L. Brooks (available from Washington State University Press, wsupress.wsu.edu, ISBN: 978-0-87422-354-5)
• Laser Safety Management – Ken Barat (available at CRC press, ISBN 978-0824723071)
• Laser Safety: Practical Knowledge and Solutions – Edited by Ken Barat (available at IOP Publishing, Inc. [ebook, PDF, Kindle], Barnes and Noble (hardcover), Online ISBN: 978-0750355049, Print ISBN: 978-0750355001
• Radiation Protection: The Essential Guide for Technologists – Thomas E. Johnson (available at Pastime Publications, ISBN: 978-1929169061)
• Radiation Protection: Solutions Manual – Thomas E. Johnson and David J. Dolan (available at Pastime Publications, ISBN: 978-1929169153)
• Radiation Protection: The Essential Workbook for Technologists – Thomas E. Johnson (available at Pastime Publications, ISBN: 978-1929169078)
• Radiation Protection: The Essential Guide for Canadian Technologists – Thomas E. Johnson and Francis E. Tourneur (ISBN: 978-1929169177)
• Silent Source – James Marshall Smith (available at amazon.com, ISBN: 978-1939398703)

Jessica Joyce, Mentorship Committee Chair

The Health Physics Society (HPS) Mentorship Committee was happy to host a group of motivated individuals at the 68th HPS Annual Meeting for this year's early-morning Challenging Health Physics Questions (CHPQ) event! Participants worked in small groups to solve written health physics questions about ion chamber detectors, neutron activation, and internal dosimetry. Each question was designed to take 30 minutes to solve and relied on provided information as well as foundational health physics concepts. Volunteer coaches Deepesh Poudel, Thomas Johnson, and Zachariah Tribbett provided coaching and grading. Want to challenge yourself? Reach out to the Mentorship Committee to get a copy of this year's CHPQs or plan to join us for the next event.