Research Team In Japan Invents, Radiation-Detecting Plastic

[SKIBADABOMSKI]

Research team invents glowing, radiation-detecting plastic...


Japanese researchers have developed a plastic that glows an eerie blue when exposed to radiation that could find its way into future portable dosimeters.

Invented by a research team from Kyoto University, the National Institute of Radiological Sciences and Teijin Chemicals Ltd. led by Kyoto University nuclear laboratory assistant professor Hidehito Nakamura, the new plastic is cheap, easy to manufacture and could be put into mass production. The researchers are aiming to have the plastic on the market by the autumn.

"Because of the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant disaster, it's become necessary for people to keep a dosimeter close at hand," Nakamura says. "I'd like to see this plastic put to use in portable radiation detectors that could just be hung from mobile phone straps."

Current radiation detectors emit visible light when hit with radiation. There are some detectors that already use plastic, but they require a highly specialized manufacturing process to make, pushing per unit production costs into the tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of yen.

The new mass-production ready material, by comparison, will likely cost less than one-tenth that. On top of being cheaper, the plastic is also better at detection, as it responds to alpha, beta and gamma radiation. The research team says that the plastic could also be used in "whole body counters," radiation detectors for measuring internal radiation exposure.

Nakamura discovered last year that regular PET bottles could detect ultraviolet rays when hit with radiation. He confirmed that the effect was related to the sensitivity of oxygen in the plastic to radiation. Nakamura created increasingly sensitive plastics, finally arriving at the glowing material.

The research team's discovery was published in the June 29 digital issue of Europhysics News, a publication of the European Physical Society.
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So I guess everyone in Japan will have some sort plastic design hanging from mobile phones and bags and purses or around the wrist or even ear rings.. but it does seem like a handy idea. What do you think about it?

Ski-