Film Badge Training (For RadKey goto 1:07)

Pause video frequently to practice reading your film badge.
Watch center strip (sensor) darken. Take several readings until you see how easy it is to read.

For nuclear civil defense (terrorism or attack) 100 Rads is maximum "safe" dose for adults, half for children. The film badge says to go to an emergency room if your dose is above 50 rads. In a big nuclear emergency the emergency rooms will be swamped. So you really don't have to start freaking out until you are over 100 Rads. Monitoring radiation is complex and the 50-Rad warning is just being conservative. If you know enough to own a film badge you should already know enough how to never get a dose as high as 50 rads even in the worst of conditions.
To really train yourself well in radiation monitoring, make a home made Kearny Fallout Meter and learn how to use it.
It's important to understand that the use of this film badge for nuclear civil defense is an "expedient" or stop-gap use. That is it is not really the proper equipment but it will get you by until you get proper equipment. This film badge is a dose monitor. That is like the odometer on your car. To have really proper equipment you need a dose rate monitor too. That is like the speedometer on your car.
In a crude way you can use this dose monitor to calculate the dose rate. Do it the same way you would calculate miles per hour if your speedometer was broken but your odometer worked.
Also read the first 35 pages of Nuclear War Survival Skills. Google that and the Kearny Fallout Meter. They are both free On-line, all over the internet.
Check out www.PhysiciansForCivilDefense.org for some killer nuke survival videos etc.
Your RadKey film badge expires in two years but will keep working for ten or more years if you keep it secure in your wallet. It will accumulate background radiation and darken some with that and age. In an emergency subtract your accumulated dose over the years from you acute dose to get your real dose. If you keep the RadKey on your key chain buy several because it will only last a couple of years there. Keep your extra film badges in the freezer and they will stay new five to ten years. That is they will not have aged any and will show zero rads.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• nuclear
• radiation
• terrorism
• emergency
• firefighter
• police