Last
week one of the largest earthquakes on record shook Northern Japan and
triggered a devastating tsunami. The damage is extensive: so few roads
and runways are open that even humanitarian supplies have been seriously
delayed. But the greatest fear of the country isn’t the washed out
roads or flattened villages. It’s an invisible phenomenon with huge
historical significance to the Japanese: the threat of nuclear radiation
is rising like a ghost recalled from the past.
Nuclear power doesn’t make
many headlines these days. Until last Friday, nuclear plants have been
considered in many parts of the world to be the best economical
solution to growing power needs. Japan has 55 nuclear reactors,
providing approximately a quarter of the country’s power. Advancing
nuclear technologies have made power more efficient and seemed to
invalidate radiation risks illustrated so horrifically by incidents at
Chernobyl and Three-Mile Island. But it is clear that innate nuclear
power risks, however diminished, remain.
Japanese security personnel at the nuclear complex. Photo credit cnn.com. |
But what is the real
danger of nuclear radiation? Unlike other forms of radioactive
materials, such as those used commonly in hospitals and industry,
nuclear materials are very heavily controlled throughout the world, and
for good reason. Nuclear materials, such as plutonium and uranium, give
off neutrons at extremely high energy levels as their nuclei decay.
This kind of radiation easily passes through most matter, but can affect
body tissues enough to cause serious medical problems. Short-term
nuclear exposure can cause infections, hair loss, and fevers, and in
extreme cases, organ failure and death. Long-term exposure can cause
cancer, tumors, and genetic damage. Even shielded nuclear radiation
sources can emit gamma radiation, which brings other health risks.
The nature of this nuclear
crisis, as well as many related scenarios, requires the use of a
combination of radiation detectors all working together to minimize
risks. Our products are designed for just this. In case of a radiation
release, a perimeter could be set up using small, handheld MiniRad-D
devices. These pager-sized radiation detectors can sense radiation from
tens of meters away. The MiniRad-D could also be used to check
personnel leaving the nuclear zone to determine if decontamination is
needed.
The MiniRad-D is self-calibrating and uses a high-sensitivity scintillation detection system. |
At the forefront of the
crisis, specialized equipment designed for finding and identifying the
type of radiation is needed. The high-energy nature of nuclear
radiation tends to saturate detectors and is hard to differentiate from
gamma radiation. Special neutron detector systems, such as the Helium-3
gas-filled tubes used by D-tect Systems in both the Rad-ID and Rad-D
systems, sort out gamma rays and detect and identify neutron radiation.
The Rad-ID also contains a combination of detector types to find
radiation over a wide range of energies, and from large amounts of
radiation to sources emitting just above background radiation.
The Rad-ID can identify over 110 radioactive isotopes. |
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