Price for buffet lunch is $15 (includes complimentary parking in the hotel garage).

If you plan to eat, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 If you choose not to eat, a charge of $7 will cover parking and event arrangements.

The formal meeting begins at 11:55 a.m.

Radiation is a phenomenon that has been studied for over 100 years. Scientists are very familiar with the subject.

Or are they? Medical practitioners in the audience are aware of what can be done during treatment protocols using radiation, but how do they convey this to their patients? Are their patients familiar with the topic, not just the treatment?

In my experience, bringing up this topic in a conversation is, at best, uncomfortable. The purpose of this talk is to break that mold. Radiation has a stigma associated with it, which is, at its core, based upon a negative emotional perception that it is “bad.” One only has to look at the media to see this.

I will introduce the audience to the perceptions the public has about radiation. Many of the people I have met have an overwhelmingly negative view of radiation. Why is the mention of radiation a toxic topic.

Radiation itself is what I like to call UBIQUITOUS. It is everywhere. Radiation 101 — Radiation comes from natural radioactive material (RM) or other sources (think nuclear medicine or X-Ray machines). Radioactive materials are everywhere and in most everything. Human beings are basically receptors — they are exposed to radiation in one form or another and receive a radiation dose.

Aside from natural sources, radiation comes from man-made sources (isotopes, radiation generating devices … especially medical applications, and potentially — emergencies). Human beings are immersed in a field of radiation including those in the body — most of it resulting in low doses.

So, how much radiation do we humans receive? How does this affect our bodies? What does the “science” tell us about these things? I will outline a very brief discussion in answer to these questions — mostly couched under the umbrella of health risk. I will not attempt to put you to sleep with copious amounts of statistics. I have looked over the relevant literature for you and will present it to you during our talk.

Finally, I will introduce you to another source (or potential source) of radiation exposure: Radiation emergencies/incidents. I will discuss examples of what truly high doses of radiation can do to the human body.

John Dixon has been a leader at the American Board of Health Physics (ABHP) for many years, sitting on its Board of Directors since 2023 and on the ABHP Part II Exam Panel — which certifies health physicists in the United States — since 2011, serving as its Examiners Chair in 2021. He received his own certificate as a Diplomate of the ABHP (CHP) in 2011 and was certified with the National Registry of Radiation Protection Technologists as far back as 1991.

Dixon started his professional career as a hazardous materials (HAZMAT) technician. He served over 8 years in the Navy as an engineering laboratory technician (ELT) staff instructor and a leading ELT and engine room supervisor on the USS James K. Polk nuclear submarine.

As a senior health physicist, he supported radiological engineering operations for nuclear power generating stations in Florida and Pennsylvania for more than 3 years before spending 14+ years at U.S. Department of Energy facilities, managing projects, training and budgets. That included incident response, senior radiological support staff and reactor operations of the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

He worked 3 years with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) / Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) evaluating reactor plant emergency response operations according to regulations and collaborated with other agencies to solve issues concerning radiation and public health. Dixon was deployed to Waveland, LA for over 6 weeks during Hurricane Katrina response.

Working on top of the High Flux Isotope Reactor at ORNL

For more information on TSK and its meetings, please email TSK secretary, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call him at 865-679-9854.