Radioactive Contamination in Consumer Products

Early this year the home retail chain Bed Bath & Beyond recalled over 200 shipments of a brushed steel tissue box holder.  The stir caused by the recall inspired great headlines like this one from Gizmodo¹:

Time to decorate! I'll take this potpourri urn, these palm frond bookends, a nice neutral-colored bathmat, and WHY IS THIS TISSUE BOX EMITTING DANGEROUS RADIATION?!!

The recalled tissue box from Bed Bath & Beyond. source

In reality, radiation contamination in consumer products is no laughing matter, and this is no isolated case.  Contaminated consumer products have been traded between many countries, and a wide range of products have been identified. 

In 2009, Wal-Mart was fined almost $400,000 by the Nuclear Regulatory Committee for exit signs containing radioactive material².  500 sets of radioactive elevator buttons were found in France in 2008³. A few cheese graters turned up in Michigan containing cobalt-60, the same isotope found in the Bed Bath & Beyond’s tissue box holders. Even a batch of 1000 La-Z-Boy recliners was found to have radioactive metal brackets in 1998⁴.  Due to the common occurrence of radiation in consumer products, the US government even set up a Nuclear Material Events Database in 1990.  Since then over 20,000 cases of radiation releases have been documented⁵.

The additional radiation exposure to consumers of these products is generally low level but still a cause for concern.  The tissue boxes were estimated to expose consumers using bathrooms with the boxes to the equivalent of a few extra chest x-rays per year.  Unexpected radiation sources add up: chronic exposure of even low doses of radiation can lead to cataracts, cancer and birth defects, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. A 2005 study of more than 6,000 Taiwanese who lived in apartments built with radioactive reinforcing steel from 1983 to 2005 showed a statistically significant increase in leukemia and breast cancer ⁶.

The question remains: if we don’t carry a radiation detector with us every time we go shopping, how will we know which products to avoid?  The solution has to involve better detection along increasingly complex supply chains.  Most of the tainted metal introduced into consumer products comes from contaminated batches of scrap metal, sometimes containing radiation acquired in nuclear power activities.  As this metal travels is formed, shaped, and implemented in products, too few check points are involved to catch radiation.  Radiation detectors need to become part of the manufacturing process, not just a safeguard against large foreign radiation sources.  And due to the wide range of consumer products tainted by radioactive materials, detectors need to screen more products. 

With new guideless and increased detection during manufacturing and distribution, we can finally be confident that our next hot buy won’t really be hot.

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D-tect Systems is a supplier of advanced radiation and chemical detection equipment sold around the world. www.dtectsystems.com.

1.      http://gizmodo.com/5875898/bed-bath--beyond-caught-selling-radioactive-tissue-boxes

2.      http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML0930/ML093050018.pdf

3.      http://articles.latimes.com/2008/nov/12/business/fi-radioactive12

4.      http://nmed.inl.gov/AnnualReports/NMEDFY10%20Annual.pdf

5.      http://public.shns.com/node/43582

6.      http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-03-19/nuclear-risks-at-bed-bath-and-beyond-show-hidden-danger-of-scrap

Solar Radiation - the Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful

As spring arrives in the northern hemisphere, people look forward to more sun; longer daylight hours, plant growth, and the chance of getting a tan.  This year, however, the media has been casting the sun in a whole different light.  The affects of powerful solar events during the last few months have caused some to wonder if the sun has a dark side.

NASA

The cycles of the earth are very familiar to us – seasons, calendars, tides.  The sun also has a cyclical nature, but many of these events still stump scientists.  The sun undergoes a solar cycle (or solar magnetic activity cycle) every 11 years.  This cycle is evidenced by the number of sunspots (small dark areas on the surface of the sun) that appear near the equator of the sun.  Sunspots are an indication of solar activity – scientists believe that they are caused by the electromagnetic fields knotting up as they move around the sun.  Since the solar maximum is predicted for next year, solar activity is nearly at its peak.

The solar cycle also causes changes closer to home.  Frequent solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) unleash huge waves of solar radiation during the peak of the cycle.  In fact, just last month a huge solar flare bombarded the earth with charged particles.  This event measured in as the largest solar radiation storm since 2003.  The effects of this storm and others like it have been widespread and occasionally serious – they can cause spacecraft electronics to malfunction, disrupt power grids, and even cause increased corrosion on fuel pipelines.

The good news about solar radiation storms is they cause very little increase in background radiation levels.  The earth’s atmosphere does a good job of blocking solar radiation, even in increased amounts.  Unless you are doing a good deal of flying (at higher altitudes the atmosphere is less effective at blocking radiation) or are visiting regions near the Antarctic, you won’t have any measureable exposure over the normal amount.  If you’d like more information on the threats solar storms can cause, check out this paper by James Marusek.

National Geographic

Even if they can cause damage, solar radiation storms have a silver lining – these events create some of the most striking auroras ever seen.  The Northern Lights (as well as those in the southern hemisphere) are caused charged particles colliding with the upper atmosphere.  For some great National Geographic images of auroras caused by a solar storm, visit this link.

As the sun strengthens this spring, remember that the news you hear about solar events may not all be bad after all.

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D-tect Systems is a supplier of advanced radiation and chemical detection equipment sold around the world. www.dtectsystems.com. 

Hospital Radiation Risks Uncovered

There is no doubt that the U.S. spends a lot of money on antiterrorism efforts. Estimates vary greatly, but some experts have put the cost of efforts since 9/11 at over $3.3 trillion¹ . The question remains: is it enough? Millions of dollars are spent on foreign operations and border protection to keep threats out of the United States.  But threats arising from negligence inside the U.S. are on the rise according to new research findings disclosed recently in congressional hearings.

An article released last week by the New York Times documents the results of hospital audits where large amounts of radioactive materials are used and stored.  The testimony of security experts included comments that hospital radioactive materials are much more vulnerable to theft or tampering than in other industries. 

Hospital equipment utilizing radiation may cause a threat if not properly secured.  source

Evidence of these weaknesses includes poor security of radioactive supplies (several hospitals had lock combinations for radiation store rooms written right on the door posts) and outdated tracking technology for radioactive materials in use. On top of the physical security underpinnings, a distinct lack of training security personnel exists to guard supplies or deal with threats. 

The real danger in these patterns of loose security is that even small amounts or weak radioactive materials can be very dangerous.  Dirty bombs can be created that disperse tiny amounts of radiation over large areas with dire consequences – contamination (and fear of contamination) could render the location of dispersion vacant for many years. We need to be sure that the United States is not only safe from radioactive materials entering our borders, but also safe from within. 

To read the entire article, visit this link.  For more information on radiation basics and how much radiation constitutes a risk, visit the Radiation Safety page on the D-tect Systems website.

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D-tect Systems is a supplier of advanced radiation and chemical detection equipment sold around the world. www.dtectsystems.com. 

Fukushima: Long Term Impact

The gripping drama that unfolded during this month last year filled headlines and news hours all across the world.  On March 11th last year, a huge earthquake and tsunami left more than 20,000 people dead or missing in eastern Japan.  Amidst widespread destruction, the tsunami slammed into the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, disabling cooling systems and leading to fuel meltdowns in three of the six nuclear units.  As invariably occurs, after a few months the media coverage moved on, even though countless problems remain unresolved.  

So why hasn’t the radiation washed away or faded into neutrality?  This same query has plagued eastern Europeans for over 25 years as they continue to deal with heightened radiation levels stemming from the Chernobyl disaster. The answer is that radioactive materials released into the environment in both of these catastrophes are extremely finely dispersed and will last for decades.  In fact, just controlling the spread of radiation has become higher priority than cleaning up the mess in many cases.

In a nutshell, radioactive elements are unstable atoms. They seek stability by giving off particles and energy—ionizing radiation—until the radioisotope becomes stable. This process occurs within the nucleus of the radioisotope, and the shedding of these particles and energy is commonly referred to as ‘‘nuclear disintegration.’’  During their disintegration, most radioactive elements morph into yet other radioactive elements on their journey to becoming lighter, stable atoms. Some of the morphed-into elements are much more dangerous than the original radioisotope, and the decay chain can take a very long time¹. This is the reason that radioactive contamination has a variable lifespan, depending on the composition of the radioactive material. For more information on this topic, see this post on radioactive lifespans.

The most common contamination radionuclides in the Japanese crisis are cesium-134 (with a half-life of 2 years) and cesium-137 (with a half-life of 30 years).  Radiological risk assessment expert John Till, president of the U.S.-based Risk Assessment Corporation, says the fallout will probably be gone from the surface of plants within a few years, but attach strongly, through ion exchange, to soil — in particular to the clay soils common throughout Fukushima². From there, the rate and risk level at which cesium will move into plants is still unclear.  And the oceans are a different matter: sediment levels and changing currents make radioactive duration almost impossible to estimate.

Japanese soldiers collect contaminated leaves near the Fukushima nuclear power plant in December. source

 

All of this information adds up to the need for sustained radiation observation.  In particular, on-going dose rate measurements are essential to avoid overexposure to people, animals, and crops.  Since much of the radiation is mobile, weather changes can cause radiation levels to rapidly fluctuate.  This is a common occurrence in Japan, where after a rain storm brings down radioactive particles, the sun and wind can produce radioactive dust clouds that travel in unpredictable ways.  The mobility of these radioactive particles requires constant monitoring to warn people and keep them indoors on increased risk days.

Not only do these detectors need to consistently and accurately make measurements, they also need to efficiently relay information to analysis locations.  A self-healing mesh network is ideal for this kind of seamless measurement and communication.  This kind of network routes around disabled detectors and can incorporate new detectors at any location in the network.  The Rad-DX, D-tect’s newest addition, operates on the D-tect SensorNet – a mesh network with these capabilities.  To learn more about the SensorNet, visit this page. 

Although the cleanup in Japan may take decades, conditions are steadily improving.  With careful and constant radiation monitoring and improvements to safety standards, future risks may be mitigated.

1: http://www.oecd-nea.org/press/press-kits/fukushima-faq.html

2: http://www.energybulletin.net/stories/2012-01-09/fukushima-cleanup-begins-long-term-impacts-are-weighed

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D-tect Systems is a supplier of advanced radiation and chemical detection equipment sold around the world. www.dtectsystems.com. 

Rad-DX Mesh Network

Everyone knows that a single camera doesn’t make a very effective security system.  Even if placed in an optimal location, a single camera can miss important details – a fact that becomes very apparent on countless action movies.  The same is true with radiation detection.  Many detectors working together can identify threats that might slip by a single detector.  This is the core idea behind the mesh network capabilities of the Rad-DX. 

The D-tect Sensor Net, a wireless mesh network built on the 802.15.4 hardware layer, is responsible of the novel network capabilities of the Rad-DX..  All Rad-DXs used in a system (for example multiple devices used at various entrances of building complex) communicate to each other via the D-tect SensorNet.  Each Rad-DX in range of the system automatically connects to the network, the devices automatically form the most efficient network possible, and all units can be monitored at once.  Because each Rad-DX has integrated WiFi and Ethernet, network data is available to smartphones, iPads, and PCs from anywhere in the world.

The D-tect SensorNet is a self-healing network, meaning that even if a Rad-DX loses its connection to the rest of the network (power outage, communication failure, etc.), the rest of the Rad-DXs will route communications around the inoperative unit and continue to communicate effectively.  Have a large area to cover?  The node-to-node range of the Rad-DX is up to 1 km (line of sight), and systems with multiple nodes can cover great distances.  Integrated GPS in every Rad-DX unit allows you to quickly identify the exact location of incidents.

Each detector is able to communicate with the entire mesh network.  Information is relayed anywhere in the world by units in WiFi range.

The communication abilities of the network are supplemented by the following unique features to ensure security.  First, the both the network and WiFi connections are 128-bit encryption protected.  Monitoring can be conducted in real-time, or past even logs can be reviews.  And floor plans can be integrated into the Rad-DX display to provide an intuitive understanding of where radiation is detected. 

So, remember the lessons of James Bond and don’t try to protect your facility with a single detector.  With a mesh network of Rad-DXs you’ll be able to identify and track threats in ways that were never possible before.  Visit the Rad-DX page for more mesh network explanations and examples.

New Rad-DX App

If there is one thing we’ve learned from designing and implementing radiation detection systems, it’s that security takes work.  Monitoring large areas for moving threats can be tedious and time consuming.  That’s why we’ve designed the new Rad-DX to simplify the protection process and work for countless security application.

One of the most convenient features of the Rad-DX is the app we’ve designed for tablets and PCs.  The app allows you to monitor all the Rad-DXs in your network in real-time, as well as allowing you easily playback events and access alarm logs. With the following steps, you can monitor any Rad-DX in the network from a remote location. 

All you’ve got to do is enter the URL of your Rad-DX and login with your username and password.  Your network of Rad-DXs will automatically connect with your tablet.  To create an intuitive display of your network, you can upload the layout of your building or complex to the Rad-DX app. An icon for each Rad-DX detector can be added to its location, giving the operator a simple view of entire detector system, and allowing a user to track the arrival or motion of radiation through the system. 

Rad-DX Screenshot

 Once you’re logged in, you’ll be able to see each Rad-DX in your network.  Touch the icon for any one of the units and you can access the its name, current alarm level, temperature, dose rate, and alarm level.  You can also adjust the settings on your tablet for audio levels and several graph views.  To see a Rad-DX in action, visit http://dxpublic.dtectsystems.com/index.html 

At the bottom of the screen you’ll find buttons to help you play see what’s going on right now, or play back past events. You can speed through an entire day to see trends in radiation detection, or slow down to focus on a specific event.  For any specific recorded time you can access all the information for each Rad-DX, a feature critical for reviewing alarm records.

With these new features, you’ll be able to keep an eye on your Rad-DX network wherever you go.  For more information on how the Rad-DX can simplify your security network, visit http://www.dtectsystems.com/rad-DX_page.html.

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D-tect Systems is a supplier of advanced radiation and chemical detection equipment sold around the world. www.dtectsystems.com. 

New Radiation Detector: Rad-DX

The Rad-DX is the newest addition to the D-tect family of rugged radiation detectors, and has capabilities unlike anything else on the market.  The Rad-DX is a lightweight fixed-mount radiation detector and dose rate monitor, perfect for mounting on a wall, ceiling, or gate. 

The Rad-DX operates on the new D-tect SensorNet - an automatic communication network that allows users to monitor a full network of Rad-DXs as long as they are in range of a single Rad-DX system. The Rad-DX units will automatically form an intelligent, self-healing mesh network, allowing them to be constantly connected to each other as well as to the user network.

Rad-DX software

The Rad-DX is designed to easily integrate into existing networks via WiFi or Ethernet.  Each unit can be controlled and monitored by a PC on the network or across the internet on any PC, Smartphone, or Tablet.  The network is 128-bit encryption protected and monitoring can be conducted in real-time or past event logs can be reviewed.  You can also monitor Rad-DXs on a integrated floor plan or map display providing an intuitive understanding of the location of a radioactive source. Dose rates can be viewed in multiple graph formats. 

The Rad-DX can be controlled by remote PC or tablet

Like the rest of the D-tect radiation products, a sensitive scintillation detector allows the Rad-DX to detect even faint sources of radiation within 1 second. Directionality is also available so you can track the motion of radiation threats.  The Rad-DX is also IP65 rated for both indoor and outdoor operation.  The Rad-DX will be available in March 2012.  For more information, visit the Rad-DX page on the D-tect Systems website.

Multiple versions of the Rad-DX are available