History and development of whole body counting in Brazil

The first whole body counter (WBC) built in Brazil used sugar as shielding material, and for this reason became internationally known as the “Sugar Bowl”. The main purpose of building that first WBC was to detect natural gamma emitters other than 40K in the inhabitants of Guarapari, then a small fishing village with a population not greater than 6 000 people, suspected of having long-lived contamination with natural radionuclides of the 232Th and 238U series. However, the Sugar Bowl was also used to whole body count the workers of a gas mantle factory. This paper reviews the history behind the construction and uses of the Sugar Bowl, as well as presents a brief view of the basic characteristics of the subsequent WBCs built in Brazil. A total of 12 WBCs have been in existence in this country until today.