EPA: Types of radiation

[Michael Stabin <stabin@npd.ufpe.br>]

Bjorn Cedervall writes

>Browsing through the "educational" EPA page about radiation
>http://www.epa.gov/radiation/students/
>one finds "Radioactive alpha particles" and "Radioactive beta particles"...
>May be it is nuclear particle physics they are describing - probably not.
>The words and concepts are important - especially when texts are aimed for
a
>broader "non-scientific" community. Perhaps someone with the right contacts
>could give EPA a hint - or am I all wrong?


OK, I haven't seen the site, but if this is the mistake that it appears to
be, Bjorn is completely right, this is incredibly off target, especially for
an agency of such visibility and authority (Clinton's choice to monitor our
high level wastes).

This is similar to the constant media mistake involving the use of the words
"radiation" and "radioactivity".  I have almost never seen radioactivity
referred to correctly in the media, it is always referred to as "radiation".
It is (or once was) my understanding that it is their job to use words
correctly.


Michael Stabin
Departamento de Energia Nuclear/UFPE
Av. Prof. Luiz Freire, 1000 - Cidade Universitaria
CEP 50740 - 540
Recife - PE
Brazil
Phone 55-81-271-8251 or 8252 or 8253
Fax  55-81-271-8250
E-mail stabin@npd.ufpe.br


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