• Using lasers in nuclear decommissioning

    High-power lasers could remove contaminated surfaces of concrete and cut up metal pipework and process vessels inside nuclear reactors, or other contaminated environments

  • Using waste to recover waste uranium

    Researchers find that a combination of bacteria and inositol phosphate can be used to recover uranium from the polluted waters from uranium mines; method may be used to process nuclear waste

  • Radiation is a constant presence in our lives

    The normal radiation we are exposed to causes the following: For every 100 million people, there will be 4,100 fatal cancers, 2,500 nonfatal cancers, 4,600 genetic defects (not all of which are obvious); for every additional mrem per person per year, the above rates will increase .67 percent

  • ThermoDyne helps organizations comply with HSPD-7

    The need to comply with Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD-7) will open 9,000 federal buildings as market for Mail Defender; this, the company and recession-weary Elkhart, Indiana, hope, will create hundreds of new, long-lasting jobs

  • Ad hoc network for CBRN sensors for soldiers, first responders

    Following an incident like an attack, explosion, or fire, soldiers and first responders would collect air-quality data, sample it, and transmit threat-level information to keep others out of harm’s way; analysis of the data at a center would give commanders actionable information useful in developing an effective response

  • TSA: Airport security lines moving faster

    Better scanning technologies, clearer procedures at checkpoints have reduced wait times down to ten minutes

  • Implant Sciences explosive detection tech attracts $1.2 million

    Massachusetts-based Implant Science may have problems at home — the company received notice from the New York Stock Exchange of plans to delist the company’s stock from its Amex exchange owing to lack of compliance — but the company landed $1.2 million from a government agency in China for its explosive detection technology

  • Reveal Imaging shows a new cabin baggage screening system

    The company says it had identified a need for a superior screening technology to be put in place for cabin baggage

  • GE offers airport detection system to the U.S. Army

    The U.S. Army wants to use GE’s trace detection system; the device may be used for drug detection and explosive detection

  • BPSI shows new mobile trailer CBRN detection unit

    Mobile Sentry One is a trailer-mounted system that incorporates chemical and radiological (optional biological detection is available) sensor technology with proprietary firmware and software to detect and identify an airborne toxic attack within seconds

  • Viz Lab, Defentech show perimeter security system

    Defentect’s gamma radiation detection technology is used in a perimeter security system that can detect radiological materials

  • National nuclear medicine shortage could have a Wisconsin solution

    Scientists believe they can generate the neutrons necessary to create Mo-99, an essential nuclear medicine tool, without using a nuclear reactor to do so; there is almost no long-lived nuclear waste, no risk of an explosive accident, and it is about 20 times less expensive to produce than more traditional methods

  • A Delaware chemical ID startup earns a state grant

    AlphaSense is working on developing a prototype, which will look like a shoebox; the user will put a swab of the material into the box and the device will sense emissions in the terahertz range to identify the chemical compound

  • Radiation safety

    A new book — Radiation Safety: Protection and Management for Homeland Security and Emergency Response — helps first responders, EMS, and medical personnel understand how to detect and cope with nuclear incidents

  • NRC seeks tighter oversight of often-lost radioactive devices

    A 3 August proposal by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) would expand the agency’s oversight, giving federal and state officials more muscle by stiffening regulations on almost 2,000 items — mostly industrial gauges containing radioactive material; there are approximately 2 million radioactive devices in factories, hospitals, research facilities — and the GAO estimates that up to 500,000 of those devices are unaccounted for