Weapons Lab Rolls Out Radiation Detectors

April 19, 2003

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from The Associated Press

04/18/2003 11:01:48 EST

Eric Risberg/AP Photo

Weapons Lab Rolls Out Radiation Detectors By MICHELLE LOCKE Associated Press Writer

A cell phone that will be able to tell the difference between a "dirty bomb" and someone who's undergone radiation treatment is among the next generation of anti-terrorism tools being worked on by national weapons lab scientists.

The device, known as RadNet, is designed to make calls, surf the Web, act as a Personal Digital Assistant, pinpoint locations with Global Positioning System technology and sniff out radioactive materials with a cutting-edge sensor. It is one of several national security projects under development at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

"It almost sounds like science fiction, but it's here today," said Simon Labov, director of the new Radiation Detection Center at Lawrence Livermore, which celebrated its formal opening Thursday with a display of the RadNet and other devices.

Lab officials showed off their work with theatrical flair, whipping away white cloths from some prototypes.

"This is called UltraSpec," Labov said as he displayed the Ultra-High Resolution Gamma Ray and Neutron Spectrometers. "No other instrument like it in the world."

The Ultra-Spec uses extremely low temperatures - within one degree of absolute zero, or -459 degrees Fahrenheit - to detect gamma rays emitted by radioactive materials. It works by recording, very precisely, the rise in temperature when a single gamma ray hits the detector's superconducting material, which is usually tin.

"At these low temperatures we get incredible sensitivity," Labov said.

Much of the technology on display Thursday uses gamma ray detection because gamma rays travel farther and are easier to identify than other tiny particles emitted by nuclear material, Labov said. Radioactive substances also emit neutrons, which are detected by other sensor technology.

Scientists hope to have RadNet prototypes ready for testing within a few months and could have the devices ready for action in about two years.

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