Radiation Technology, Research Paper Example

Radiation has received great news in the past year due to the disaster in Japan at the nuclear power plant from the Tsunami in 2011.  The disaster has prompted concern regarding radiation exposure and its short and long term effects on the health of the public, as well as the environment.  In addition, nuclear power is found all over the world.  Any type of disaster can lead to another nuclear power plant destruction, increasing the risk of the surrounding community and wildlife.  Investing in radiation technology can have great benefits for the health of the general public; as well create revenue for health care industry.  Radeco (Radiation Detection Company) is a veteran owned business that is located in eastern Connecticut.  The company has been around for 40 years and started initially as small company which designed Air Samplers for the nuclear industry.  In the year 1973, Science Applications International purchased Radeco.  Since then, the company has tripled in size and currently specializes in air sampling equipment, as well as supplying safety products and emergency response products to the United States Navy, United States Air Force and the United States Environmental Protection Agency.  Radeco prides itself on developing new products and services and upgrading the older products into new state-of-the-art products.  Radeco develops a range of devices from radioiodine sampling cartridges to telemetry based remote monitoring.  Radeco is most infamously known for its Alliance Agreement with the International Speciality Products Corporation (ISP), in which the development of new types of colorimetric radiation meters for first response was developed.  (Radeco, 2012)

The colorimetric radiation dosimeter was designed and created with the assistance of ISP.  This device has been supplied to the National Guard and the State of New Jersey and New York City for response emergency.  All of the products are developed in a facility in Plainfield Connecticut.  The company manufactures 70-100 air samplers and 1000 radioiodine cartridges per day.  Radeco is also known for the quality of their equipment.  In fact, Radeco tests every cartridge that it develops, as well as each batch of media, compared to other radiation device companies that do not provide tests to most of their products.  In addition to the testing, Radeco supplies the results of this testing to their customers to further ensure the quality check and reliability of the product.

Radeco has also provided extensive research to find the expiration date of their products.  The company has found that their cartridges last over 10 years from the initial date of manufacturing.  Since 2004, Radeco has included the expiration date on each cartridge label.  In addition, Radeco supplies user manuals for each of its products, as well as a website containing the contact information for the support needed for any type of issue or problem with a purchased product.

The main products that Radeco offers are air samplers.  The TRU-DAC Personal Air Sampler is a device that determines the inhalation dose from exposure to Alpha and Beta nuclides in the air.  The samplers catch the aerosols on the surface of the membrane filter and analyses the nuclides through a semiconductor detector and Alpha spectroscopy and Beta gross counting.  Dangerous doses can be detected within one minute with a subsequent signalling alert.  Radeco also develops larger air sampling systems such as the portable sampling system, RAD-H-2000 Discharge Sampling System.  These are just two of the sampling products that Radeco offers.  Radeco makes numerous air sampling products and dependent on the needs of the customer, the type of product is purchased.  For instance, manufactures continuous duty samplers, grab samplers, remote monitoring, air flow calibrators, particulate filters, radioiodine cartridges, personal samplers, electronic dosimeters, survey meters and whole body meters.  (Radeco, 2012)One of the main customers for Radeco is the United States Air Force.  Since 2003, Radeco has been supplying the United States Air Force with Emergency Response air sampling equipment, to include air sampling kits that are composed of calibrators, filter media, sample holders and air samplers.  These air sampling kits are manufactured and sent to Air Forces bases around the world.

Radeco also supplies medical, security, and industrial safety-type products to the military, as well as hospitals and emergency response organizations.  These organizations in addition to hospitals are nuclear utility companies, the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense.  These types of products include the MyClyns personal protection spray, RADView Dosimeter and RADView CT Dosimeter.  (Radeco, 2012)  The MyClyn is a disposable one time use device that is kept in an individual’s pocket.  The MyClyn can be sprayed to the affected part of the body if it is suspected of pathogenic exposure.  The RADView CT is a dosimeter badge that can be worn to determine a visual representation of the amount of radiation that has been absorbed to patients that have undergone a CT scan.  The ExtendaClyns is a hand sanitizer that has been determined to kill 99.9% of germs that are noted for causing disease and infections.  The product has been reported to work in 15 seconds and last for hours after application to the skin.  (Radeco, 2012)

The quality of care of Radeco products can be established through two major factors.  For once, the company has been around 40 years.  In addition, the company supplies departments of the United States military with their radiation detecting technology since 2004.  Almost 10 years later, the United States military is obtaining their emergency response devices from this company.  Those two factors alone can certify the quality of care that is provided from Radeco.   The equipment that is manufactured from this company is not equipment that an average person would purchase for their home.  These devices are manufactured for larger companies and hospitals.  The cost for these devices isreflected in the amount of time and research that is placed into each product, as well as the testing that occurs for each device and product.  (Radeco, 2012)  The products offered through Radeco have, however, have offered to the quality of life around the world.

Radeco’s has developed a small badge, at only the size of a credit card that darkens to warn the individual of radiation exposure.  This badge was created in response to the Japan crisis from the 2011 Tsunami and the deterioration of the nuclear power plant.  This badge was also directly marketed in order for supply to emergency responders, as well as the general public.   The badge is termed, “RADView Colorimetric Dosimeter”.  The dark spot that warns of radiation absorption reacts in exposure to differing levels of radiation specifications per the Environmental Protection Agency.  The purpose of these badges is to supply to individuals in an emergency such as nuclear accidents or workers entering a building that possibly contains sources of radiation.  These badges are also cost effective at $20, compared to the more expensive electronic dosimeters that are manufactured.  Radeco envisions the badges being sold at drug stores and supermarkets for general public purchase.  The importance of these badges is to ensure that the public is not exposing to radiation during an emergency event.  The badge uses the EPA scale to measure the direct amount of radiation present in the surrounding area.  The shaded area indicated as 5 rems points out an exposure in a workplace with radiological technology.  10 rems indicate the risk of contamination to a public place and 25 rems results in an alarming public protection.  Radiation can cause many problems to human health, such as nausea, vomiting, haemorrhaging, and skin or tissue damage, as well as cause cancer.  Other research facilities have worked with Radeco in order to ensure the dependability or reliability of these badges, such as the University of Wisconsin.(Daddona, 2012)

The tsunami in Japan resulted from a 6.8 magnitude earthquake along the coastline.  The earthquake greatly affected the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.  For more than five months after the tsunami, power plant was releasing radiation.  High levels of radiation have been continually affecting the local towns with the presence of radioactive particles leaking into the environment.  The main concern is the leakage of the radiation into the food chain.  Radiation has been detected in different types of food, such as vegetables, green tea, beef and other types of products.  In fact, a sample of rice taken from 100 miles from the Fukushima plant contained radiation over the suggested limit.  With this news, the risks of cancer from radiation exposure are a major concern.  Looking back at the disaster at Chernobyl, it was 20 years later when the increase in cancer of exposed individuals was realized.  (McCurry, 2011)  After this devastating disaster, Radeco supplied over $70,000 worth of equipment to the United States Army to use in order to detect the presence of radiation. Radeco sent thousands of radioiodine cartridges to Japan. This product was extremely successful and effective for its purpose and use under the given conditions.  There were multiple rolling blackouts occurring; therefore, Radeco supplied the army with the cartridges which wouldn’t require energy in order to operate.  The cartridge can just be placed in the air.  In addition, Radeco also supplied the Army with badges in order to test the people in Japan.  As previously mentioned, the badges change color dependent on the amount of radiation exposure.  This helped determine individuals in the general public who were exposed to radiation from this disaster, as well as be worn by the emergency responders in order to protect them from radiation effects.  (Deteij, 2011)

Although radiation can lead to detrimental health issues for people who are exposed to large quantities, the American Nuclear Society (2008) has indicated that radiation has more societal benefits than its downfall.    The American Nuclear Society indicates that ionizing radiation is used in diagnostic and therapeutic medicine, as well as other medical procedures.  In addition, most of the supplies that are used in hospitals are sterilizing using gamma radiation rays.  In addition, radiation is used in steel and paper factories, as well as inspecting luggage at airports.  Furthermore, it is used in smoke detectors and in radioisotope tracers in biology and medicine practices and research.

Since radiation is used in so many necessary and practice purposes, it is important to continue use for health and economic purposes; however, it is still necessary to test and determine the levels of radiation in the air, as well as the amount absorbed on an individual.  The current basis for the levels of radiation has been determined at the Linear No Threshold Hypothesis (LNTH).  This means that even the effects of low-level radiation are deleterious, further indicating that it can be assumed that health effects can be detrimental at any exposure to radiation, no matter how small.   With the ongoing research on the deleterious effects of radiation, Congress has passed laws allowing for the study of the health effects of low-level radiation through the Department of Energy.  (American Radiation Society, 2011)

The Department of Energy is one of the companies which Radeko supplies its products to.  There is a current need and supply of radiation technology.  The technology is used not only by commercial vendors and hospitals, but by several Federal military departments, which has shown an increase since the disaster in Japan.  Radeco not only serves a purpose to help protect the public through the detection of radiation levels, but has supported the economy with jobs for the past 40 years.  There is a definite need for radiation technology for both health and environmental reasons.  These products offered by Radeco, therefore, would serve to protect the health of the public and create of greater awareness of radiation and the use of radiation in our society.

References

American Radiation Society.  (2008).  Societal Benefits of Radiation.  Position Statement.  Web. Available at: http://www.new.ans.org/pi/ps/docs/ps73.pdf

American Radiation Society.  (2011).  Health Effects of Low-Level Radiation. Web. Available at:http://www.new.ans.org/pi/ps/docs/ps41-bi.pdf

Daddona, P.  (2012).  Coverage in the New London Day.  New Device Could Warn Of Radiation Exposure.  Web. Available at: http://www.radecoinc.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=45:coverage-in-the-new-london-day&catid=1:latest&Itemid=85

Deteij, T.  (2011). CT company sends radiation equipment to Japan. http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/windham_cty/ct-company-sends-radiation-equipment-to-japan

McCurry, J.  (2011).  Fukushima: Radiation reports overshadow progress at plant.  Global Post. Web. Available at: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/japan/110820/fukushima-japan-tsunami-earthquake-radiation-fears

Radeco.  (2012).  Radiation Detection Company.  Web. http://radecoinc.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12&Itemid=34