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New dosimeter for emergency personnel
I saw this in passing, and thought it would be of interest. Does anyone have
any information on these?
-- John
-----Original Message-----
From: ArcaMax [mailto:ezines@arcamax.com]
Sent: March 17, 2000 12:56 AM
To: Jacobus, John (OD)
Subject: ArcaMax Science News for March 17, 2000
. . .
INSTANT DOSIMETERS
Firefighters, paramedics and other emergency workers may soon be wearing
radiation dosimeters that tell them -- immediately -- if they are being
exposed to radiation. The prototype Radiation Litmus Paper was developed at
Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. "The responder community does
not need sophisticated radiation detection equipment," says Los Alamos's
Benjamin Warner, "they simply need to know if a radiological situation
poses a threat to them." The RLP consists of a plastic tag containing two
safe chemicals, and it weighs about one ounce. Flexing the card mixes the
chemicals and activate the detector. It can be set to detect radiation at
several different energy levels, from 15 millirems up to 2 rems. Workers
could wear several of varying levels and see which change color, giving
them a quick idea of the dose they are being exposed to. The lab believes
that RLPs could also be used as tags on luggage or containers to monitor or
detect shipments or smuggling of radioactive goods.
. . .
--
Copyright 2000 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.
----------------------------------------
"The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time."
- Abraham Lincoln
John Jacobus, MS
Health Physicist
National Institutes of Health
Radiation Safety Branch, Building 21
21 Wilson Drive, MSC 6780
Bethesda, MD 20892-6780
Phone: 301-496-5774 Fax: 301-496-3544
jjacobus@ors.od.nih.gov (W)
jenday1@email.msn.com (H)
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