MODELS AND TECHNOLOGIES FOR MAKING ASPECTS OF THE DOSIMETRY EDUCATION ACCESSIBLE TO NON-SPECIALISTS
MODELS AND TECHNOLOGIES FOR MAKING ASPECTS OF THE DOSIMETRY EDUCATION ACCESSIBLE TO NON-SPECIALISTS

Summary/Abstract: Web technologies allow one to have access to educational resources previously reserved to small groups of people, but this also questions whether specialized knowledge can be understood at a large scale. In the domain of nuclear energy, we propose an educational experiment that considers very specialized measuring devices for differentiation and detection of radiation sources, and introduces a modeling framework capable to describe them in a generic way, accessible to non-specialists, who may also be interested in the field due to the presence of industrial hazards in their geographical area. The representation is made at a high level of abstraction and it introduces a view driven by a general taxonomy of the measuring instruments, which also facilitates the integration of measured data into a common database, to be further used for processing and visualization. All the involved steps, from the instrument-specific configuration, to the presentation of the educational materials and the data management activities, are supported by a Web interface and may be used in distance or blended learning environments. Our study concerns the gamma scintillation probe SG-2, one of the tools used in gamma spectrometry applications, mainly in determining the nature and activity for unknown sources of radiation. For the Nuclear Power Plants Department in the Power Engineering Faculty of the Politehnica University of Bucharest, the Radiation Dosimetry course is one of the main courses included in the curricula for the Nuclear Power Engineering and Technologies and the Environmental Engineering majors. Beyond the academic scope, we are also interested of understanding such instruments for the assessment of territorial vulnerabilities induced by nuclear facilities, for creating awareness, early warning and decision support.

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