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New T-ray source would improve airport security, cancer detection
Terahertz radiation does not have sufficient energy to “ionize” an atom by knocking loose one of its electrons, which is good news, because this ionization causes the cellular damage that can lead to radiation sickness or cancer; T-ray absorption patterns could not only detect but also identify a much wider variety of hazardous or illegal substances than X-ray
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Self-powered biosensor sniffs out danger
University of Glasgow students win prestigious competition with a device which can sniff out pollution and then generate its own electricity to set off an early-warning system
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Companies join to create the RFID Consortium
The consortium will license patents that are essential to making products supporting the UHF RFID Standards announced by EPCglobal and ISO/IEC
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New York opposes extending Indian Point license
Indian Point nuclear plants in Westchester County are surrounded by 20 million people within a 50-mile radius, more than any other reactor in the country; plants’ operator applied for a 20-year extension license, but the State of New York says plants pose too much risk and should be shut down
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Bulgaria to build the first Russian-designed nuclear reactor in the EU
Bulgaria will be the first EU country to build a nuclear power plant based on Russian design; the plant will be built at a site deemed unsafe two decades ago because it was prone to earthquakes
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DSC receives Home Office funding for improved explosive detector
U.K. company has developed technology to produce from vapor single crystals of the compound semiconductor cadmium telluride, which can be used as detectors of X-rays and gamma rays
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Cernium raises $10 million
Virginia-based video analytic specialist raises $10 million from Chicago investor
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U.S. intelligence: Iran halted work on nuclear weapons in 2003
The U.S. National Intelligence Estimate, which represents the consensus view of all sixteen American spy agencies, asserts that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and that the program remains on hold
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New X-ray technique developed
The tomographic energy dispersive diffraction imaging (TEDDI) harnesses all the wavelengths present in an X-ray beam to create 3D pictures; could be used to detect hidden explosives, drugs, and human cancers more effectively
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Europeans install radiation detectors as U.S. question detectors' efficacy
U.S. legislators raise questions about DHS’s $1.4 billion program which aims to deploy nuclear radiation detectors in U.S. ports; GAO raises questions about test methodology of latest technology; Europeans, though forge ahead with port deployment
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Living cells as bioterror detectors
Terrapin researcher has an idea for bioterror attack detection: Use cells that die when exposed to a particular pathogen, thus providing the early warning; the cells are also engineered to produce a signal, such as fluorescence, when attacked
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How real is the nuclear threat for the United States?
Graham Allison: “Based on current trends, a nuclear terrorist attack on the United States is more likely than not in the decade ahead”
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Laser diodes with world's shortest wavelength for bioterror detection
Currently, the shortest laser diode reported measures 343nm — which is problematic: Most biological molecules show strong absorption in the ultraviolet spectral region ranging from 280nm to 340nm; researchers at Bristol and Sheffield universities fabricate the first 337nm laser diode — allowing for continuous monitoring of biological molecules; technology will also increase capacity for information storage
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Hygiena launches hand-held device for contaminant detection
A New Jersey food processor just went belly up as a result of having to launch the second largest recall of contaminated beef in U.S. history; a California company says that if its hand-held contamination monitor were used, the contaminant would have been found earlier, reducing the size of the recall and the subsequent financial hit
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Uncertainties about nuclear waste storage
The waste created in the production of U.S. nuclear weapons is buried in Hanford, Washington; there is a growing uncertainty about the subsurface paths nuclear contaminants take, where they travel, and how fast
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The long view
Today, Everyone’s a Nuclear Spy
There was a time when tracking nuclear threats was the domain of secret agents, specialists at high-powered government intelligence agencies, and think-tank experts. Not anymore. Amy Zegart writes that today, the world of new nuclear sleuths looks like the Star Wars bar scene. What has empowered these nuclear detectives and made their work possible is the fact that in the last 15-20 years, commercial satellites have become common – and their capabilities, although not at the level of spy satellites, are not too far behind. Open-source amateur nuclear sleuthing comes with risks, but Zegart says that despite these risks, the democratization of nuclear-threat intelligence is likely to be a boon to the cause of nonproliferation.