[ RadSafe ] NYC Council bill on detectors: Simple question

[Brennan, Mike (DOH)]

This is indeed something that will be interesting to follow.  I see two
major problems, however:

(1) There are a LOT of legit sources that will be quite strong enough to
be picked up by a system like this.  Patients that have received any of
a number of radio-pharmaceutical and who are out moving about are
probably the single biggest group.  The hardware/software/people of this
system would have to be able to identify these sources, then track them
so they don't keep being discovered again as they move from one place to
another.  Each urban area would require 24/7 coverage by some pretty
knowledgeable rad folks, with big areas requiring several at a time.  At
a rough guess, a thousand or so rad experts, plus supporting IT, admin,
etc.  Not cheap, not easy.

(2) I completely agree that for the system to function the person with
the phone can not be notified, as their reaction would tip off the bad
guys.  I see, however, problems with selling that concept to the public.
I know a number of people who would feel that everyone else not knowing
is fine, but THEY want to know it theirs alarms, so they can run away. 

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On
Behalf Of Neill Stanford
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 11:54 AM
To: 'Cary Renquist'; 'Bjorn Cedervall'; radsafe at radlab.nl
Subject: RE: [ RadSafe ] NYC Council bill on detectors: Simple question

It seems at odds with new developments:

"Cell phone sensors detect radiation to thwart nuclear terrorism
Researchers at Purdue University are working with the state of Indiana
to develop a system that would use a network of cell phones to detect
and track radiation to help prevent terrorist attacks with radiological
"dirty bombs"
and nuclear weapons.
Such a system could blanket the nation with millions of cell phones
equipped with radiation sensors able to detect even light residues of
radioactive material. Because cell phones already contain global
positioning locators, the network of phones would serve as a tracking
system, said physics professor Ephraim Fischbach. Fischbach is working
with Jere Jenkins, director of Purdue's radiation laboratories within
the School of Nuclear Engineering."

See this link for the whole article: 
http://news.uns.purdue.edu/x/2008a/080122FischbachNuclear.html 

Neill Stanford, CHP
Stanford Dosimetry
-------------------------------------------
stanford at stanforddosimetry.com
360 733-7367 (v)
360 715-1982 (f)
360 770-7778 (cell)
www.stanforddosimetry.com
--------------------------------------------



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