Typical Examination Questions

  1. In general, the body cells most susceptible to damage by radiation are those found in:
    1. rigid or semi rigid tissues
    2. muscle tissues
    3. rapidly dividing tissues
    4. highly specialized tissues
    5. nerve tissues
  2. In a picocurie of any radioactive substance, the disintegration rate is:
    1. 2.22 dpm
    2. 2.22 x 106 dpm
    3. 37,000,000 dpm
    4. 3.7 x 104 dps
    5. 3.7 x 1010 dps
  3. Which of the following radionuclides cannot be detected by gamma spectrometry pulse height analysis?
    1. Hydrogen-3
    2. Iodine-131
    3. Cerium-144
    4. Ruthenium-106
    5. Cesium-137
  4. The elemental symbols for Boron, Beryllium, Cadmium, and Calcium are;
    1. Bo, B, Ca, C
    2. B, By, Cd, Ca
    3. Bo, Be, Cd, Ca
    4. B, Be, Cd, Ca
    5. B, Br, Ca, Cl
  5. Which of the following radionuclides is most suited to in-vivo measurements?
    1. Hydrogen-3
    2. Carbon-14
    3. Strontium-90
    4. Iodine-131
    5. Plutonium-239
  6. How long must a sample with a count rate of 300 cpm be counted to give a total count rate standard deviation of 1%?
    1. 3.5 min
    2. 17 min
    3. 30 min
    4. 33 min
    5. 65 min
  7. At what radius would you post a radiation area around an 8 curie Cesium 137 (662 Kev photon energy and a photon yield of 0.85 photons/disintegration) point source?
    1. 10 feet
    2. 74 feet
    3. 145 feet
    4. 53 feet
    5. 101 feet
  8. An air filter with a collection efficiency of 99.97% is being used in a decontamination effort. Calculate the decontamination factor for this filter.
    1. 9997
    2. 0.9997
    3. 3000
    4. 10,000
    5. 3333
  9. During an emergency in a DOE regulated facility, with known or potential high radiation fields, exposure to personnel must be voluntary if it is anticipated that such exposure may exceed a whole body exposure of:
    1. 5 rem
    2. 10 rem
    3. 25 rem
    4. 75 rem
    5. 100 rem
  10. A worker is to perform maintenance on a Reactor Coolant pump under the following radiological conditions; Dose rate on contact with the pump - 350 mrem/hr, Dose rate at 30 cm from the pump (working area dose rate) is 85 mrem/hr, and an airborne concentration of .45 DAC. She will spend a maximum of 14 hours in this area during the week. According to 10CFR20, how is this area to be posted?
    1. Danger High Radiation Area, Airborne Radioactivity Area
    2. Caution Radiation Area, Airborne Radioactivity Area
    3. Caution High Radiation Area, Airborne Radioactivity Area
    4. Caution Airborne Radioactivity Area
    5. Caution Radiation Area
  11. For an exclusive use vehicle that is transporting radioactive materials, radiation levels on contact with any external surface of the vehicle must not exceed:
    1. 0.01 mSv/hour
    2. 0.02 mSv/hour
    3. 0.1 mSv/hour
    4. 2.0 mSv/hour
    5. 10.00 mSv/hour
  12. Two categories of ionization are:
    1. alpha and beta
    2. direct and indirect
    3. microwave and infrared
    4. charged and uncharged
    5. molecular and atomic
  13. Intrinsic efficiency of a detector expresses the:
    1. probability that a count will be recorded if radiation enters the sensitive volume.
    2. ability of an instrument to count different energies.
    3. percent of gamma energy producing ion pairs.
    4. total detector counts minus the background.
    5. total beta/gamma counts by a tissue equivalent detector
  14. The antiparticle of a positron is a:
    1. proton
    2. neutrino
    3. electron
    4. meson
    5. neutron
  15. Forms of the same chemical element that contain different numbers of neutrons are called:
    1. isobars
    2. isomers
    3. radionuclides
    4. isotones
    5. isotopes
  16. An atom of a radionuclide that has a low neutron to proton ratio, and an atomic rest mass energy that is 1.02 Mev greater than the product atom's rest mass energy may decay by which of the following?
    1. Either positron emission or electron capture
    2. Annihilation
    3. Beta minus emission
    4. Isomeric transition
    5. Internal conversion
  17. Which radioactive decay series includes Ra-226 as one of its decay products?
    1. Thorium
    2. Uranium
    3. Actinium
    4. Neptunium
    5. Polonium
  18. An individual who receives an acute, whole body (DDE) radiation exposure of approximately 8 Gy will likely suffer symptoms of up to which level of the Acute Radiation Syndrome?
    1. Subclinical
    2. Hemopoietic
    3. Gastrointestinal
    4. Central Nervous System
    5. Not enough exposure to classify
  19. The term "isokinetic sampling" refers to the procedure of using sampling velocity that is exactly equal to the:
    1. velocity of the gas stream at the point of sampling
    2. velocity at the center of the main gas stream corrected for temperature and pressure
    3. velocity at the center of the main gas stream
    4. velocity of the gas stream adjacent to the duct wall
    5. average velocity of the main gas stream
  20. In which of the following radioactive decays will the daughter product be an isobar of the parent?
    1. alpha decay
    2. gamma decay
    3. neutron decay (elastic scatter)
    4. positron decay
    5. neutron decay (inelastic scatter)
  21. The respiratory protection device of choice for entry into an atmosphere immediately dangerous to life and health is a (an):
    1. supplied air hood
    2. air-purifying respirator equipped with a high efficiency filter
    3. air-purifying respirator, full face piece, equipped with organic vapor canister
    4. self-contained breathing apparatus equipped with a pressure demand regulator
    5. self-contained breathing apparatus equipped with a demand type regulator
  22. The average distance of travel in a medium between interactions, describes a photon's:
    1. mass energy absorption coefficient
    2. mean free path
    3. linear attenuation coefficient
    4. Compton cross section
    5. linear energy transfer
  23. The Bragg-Gray principle is based upon the relationship of:
    1. secondary charged particle equilibrium requirements and the thickness of the wall material of the chamber.
    2. ionization in an air-filled ionization chamber to the dose in air
    3. ionization of the gas in an ionization chamber to the dose in the wall material
    4. ionization in a gas-filled ionization chamber to the dose in the gas
    5. scatter of low energy photons to the probability of ionization in the chamber
  24. Given a gamma-energy value of 0.662 Mev, and a photon yield of 0.85 per decay, the exposure rate at 2 yards from an unshielded 10 mCi Cs-137 point source is:
    1. 1.10 R/hour
    2. 0.55 R/hour
    3. 5.50 R/hour
    4. 0.55 mR/hour
    5. 0.94 mR/hour
  25. A radionuclide has a decay constant of 0.1314/years, a gamma energy (per disintegration) of 2.50 MeV, and will produce a dose rate of approximately 30 R/hr at one foot from a 2 Curie source. Calculate the radiological half-life of this nuclide:
    1. 5.27 years
    2. 229 years
    3. 3.93 years
    4. 30.1 years
    5. 0.0231 years