Indian Association of Nuclear Chemists & Allied Scientists (IANSCS), a scientific body of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai, has offered instruments worth Rs 3 lakhs to the Hyderabad campus of GITAM. GITAM is going to be a university where students will be able to detect and measure radiation and handle radioisotopes safely. The instruments supplied by IANSCS are Geiger Muller counter for the measurement of Beta radiation and a Gamma Scintillon Detector to measure Gamma radiation.
The students of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre delivered a five-day national workshop on “Radiochemistry and Application of Radioisotopes” at GITAM, Hyderabad. In the workshop there were 45 GITAM School faculty members and 20 professors present from other universities around India. The workshop has taken place from 4th April to 8th April, 2022.
Radioisotopes that emit radiation have many applications in the real world, such as sterilization of medical consumables, non-destructive testing of fabricated materials and irradiation of food products. Radioisotopes are used to follow the paths of biochemical reactions or to determine how a substance is distributed within an organism. The BARC scientists used the instruments to demonstrate the participants that daily use products such as soap and salt contain enough naturally occurring K-40 radioisotopes to emit Beta radiation.
They also taught the basics of radioactivity, decay, radiation, detection and measurement including the application of radioisotopes in chemical sciences, physics, medicine, industry and agriculture. Lab experiments were conducted using radioisotopes like Cobalt-60, Cobalt-67, Thallium-204, Potassium-40 and Cesium-137.
