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Re: 'Dirty Bomb' Was Major New Year's Worry
Yes I can speak from some experience that they are fully capable of doing
what they need to do. I cannot discuss specifically what type of
instruments are used but yes they can look for neutron as well as gamma and
can do isotopic identification. I you reread the article it discusses their
use of instruments that are disguised as various commonly seen objects
such as coolers, briefcases, etc., not just the pagers.
These teams have been around for many years, it's just that most people
didn't know they existed. The "dirty bomb" may be something that the
public has only recently been exposed to but the concept and contingency
planning for it has been around for quite awhile. After all, if you
already have teams and equipment prepared to deal with nuclear weapon type
incidents it doesn't take much effort to add simple radiological weapons to
your list of things to worry about.
One of the side effects of this homeland security paranoia has been the
increasing commercial availability of instruments that were formerly pretty
much just used in the emergency response/special operations world. As an
example, I have a SAM 935 from Berkeley Nucleonics w/ a 3"x3" NaI and
pressurized He detector set up for doing field spectroscopy as well as SNM
screening. Exploranium sells the GR-135 which can come with neutron
detection as well as the NaI (and/or CsI) gamma spec. I also have a gamma
pager which I consider to be very sensitive, although not very
"smart". There is a neutron version available but I cannot say how well it
works. I believe that it uses separate detectors for gamma and neutron.
At 10:04 AM 1/8/04, you wrote:
> Do you actually know what their instrumentation is or is this just another
>summary of the kind "it is OK because it just has to be"? I would really
>be interested in the physics behind a pager-sized detector capable to
>see neutrons and stay blind for the gamma... or have the resolution it
>takes to see which is which.
>
>Dimiter
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------
>Dimiter Popoff
>Transgalactic Instruments, Gourko Str. 25 b, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria
>http://transgalactic.freeyellow.com
Kim Merritt
Radiation/Laser Safety Officer
HazMed, Inc.
NASA Langley Research Center
Hampton, VA
(757)864-3210
<mailto:k.merritt@larc.nasa.gov>
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed herein are my own and do not
necessarily state or reflect those of NASA or the United States Government,
nor do they represent the official position of NASA.
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