Les rayonnements ionisantsApplications médicales et industrielles

Abstract

Medical diagnosis with X-rays is the best known use of ionizing radiations onaccount of its wide diffusion (about 57 500 units in France). Other medicalapplications of artificial radionuclides involving a smaller number of installationsare also well known, i.e. gamma teletherapy (167 units), brachytherapy(119 units) or therapy using unsealed sources (257 units). The industrial uses ofionising radiation, the diversity of which is vey large, are generally less wellknown. The use of X- and gamma rays for non-destructive testing or food preservationand the use of tracers have some notoriety, but few people know thatradioactive sources are involved in the measurement of parameters controllingindustrial processes. The number of persons authorized to hold, use and/or sellartificial radionuclides amounts to about 4 800, all applications included.Approximately 650 of them are involved in therapy and 500 in medical research.The aim of this paper, which is not exhaustive, is to review a few typical applicationsof radionuclides both in the medical and industrial fields. It also suppliesdata both on the number of people authorized to use each technique and theradionuclides involved. © EDP Sciences, 1994.