The need for this book arose from my teaching, engineering, and - search
experience in the non-power aspects of nuclear technology. The lack of a
comprehensive textbook in industrial applications of radiation
frustrated my students, who had to resort to a multitude of textbooks
and research publications to familiarize themselves with the fundam- tal
and practical aspects of radiation technology. As an engineer, I had to
acquire the design aspects of radiation devices by trial-and-error, and
often by accidental reading of a precious publication. As a researcher
and a supervisor of graduate students, I found that the needed
literature was either hard to find, or too scattered and diverse. More
than once, I discovered that what appeared to be an exciting new idea
was an old concept that was tried a few decades earlier during the
golden era of "Atom for Peace". I am hoping, therefore, that this book
will serve as a single comprehensive reference source in a growing field
that I expect will continue to expand. This book is directed to both
neophytes and experts, and is written to combine the old and the new,
the basic and the advanced, the simple and the complex. It is
anticipated that this book will be of help in - viving older concepts,
improving and expanding existing techniques and promoting the
development of new ones.