News Archive

30 June 2020
Polonium-210 Fact Sheet Updated

Dan Sowers, HPS Public Information Committee

It's always a good day to see a team's progress culminate in a finished, published product. The members of the Health Physics Society's (HPS) Public Information Committee, chaired by Emily Caffrey, are working to update HPS fact sheets (as useful tools to communicate many valuable facets of health physics to the general public). Just this week, after a lengthy debate, revision, and peer-review process, we've published the revised Polonium-210 fact sheet.

Steve Sugarman took the lead on the Polonium-210 fact sheet. In large part, fact sheets evolve from questions received in the Ask the Experts portal. In the case of this fact sheet specifically, we expanded the discussion on the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and added more terms in the glossary in the hopes of catching and educating the curious web searcher. All this public information is free and exists to help the general public understand radiation and health physics, and for you—the health physicist—to more effectively communicate to those who may want to know more, have questions, or have concerns. Take time to know what's there. Understand it. Use it. Reference it. Share it.

For any questions about the Public Information Committee, please contact Steve or Emily.