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An Experimental Evaluation of the Radiation Protection Afforded by a Large Modern Concrete Office Building
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Abstract: "An experimental study was made to determine the effective shielding provided by a modern reinforced-concrete office building (AEC Headquarters building) from nuclear fallout. Pocket ionization chambers were used for measurement of the radiation-field strength. Fallout was simulated with distributed and point-source configurations of Co-60 and Ir-192 sources. Four typical sections were selected for study, and experiments were performed on each. These included an external wing with exposed basement walls and an external wing with a buried basement. Roof studies were made on an internal wing with a full basement and on the east end of wing A, which has a thin-roof construction. The thick-roof construction of 8 in. of concrete and 2 in. of rigid insulation covers all the building except the east end of wing A, which has 4 in. of concrete and 2 in. of insulation."