New Camera Sees Japan's Radiation Threats

One year after Japan's nuclear disaster, the invisible threat of radiation still lurks around homes and businesses near the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant. Now, a new camera based on Japanese space technology has allowed humans to see the radioactive contamination around the nuclear plant's emergency evacuation zone.

Such camera technology works by detecting radioactive particles that give off gamma rays — the highest-energy form of light in the universe.

www.space.com




A series of camera images shows radioactive particles over time at a village near the Fukushima nuclear facility. CREDIT: JAXA

This technology comes in handy determining the effected/non-effected areas,It is a shame with what happened ay Fukushima,My heart goes out to all of those that have been directly and indirectly effected...And for those that will feel it's damning,damaging corona for many years to come

I hope no one on this earth ever has an accident of this magnitude ever again....If it were up to me I would get rid of all Nuclear facilities...I know it is never that easy or simple but one can hope and dream.

I know what I'M going to add to my Christmas list

reply to post by PerfectPerception

I like the sound of this, but what am I looking at? The people in each image (what looks like at 20 minutes, 40 minutes, and 60 minutes apart) are standing in the exact same position, maybe dis-crediting the images as time-lapse images. Of course I am really, really tired and may be looking at the images completely wrong...I dunno.

Originally posted by RoyalBlue
reply to post by PerfectPerception

 

I like the sound of this, but what am I looking at? The people in each image (what looks like at 20 minutes, 40 minutes, and 60 minutes apart) are standing in the exact same position, maybe dis-crediting the images as time-lapse images. Of course I am really, really tired and may be looking at the images completely wrong...I dunno.

I see what you mean,To be honest I am not sure,I believe they are showing how it works,I might be wrong though.

This camera originally came from observation satellite technology -

Such camera technology works by detecting radioactive particles that give off gamma rays — the highest-energy form of light in the universe. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) originally developed the technology for an upcoming X-ray observation satellite, called ASTRO-H, but successfully adapted the camera to spot Earthly radiation threats such as Cesium 137 and Cesium 134.

I love sushi and as you can imagine I am really angry at the radiation I will be consuming from now on!

Trust the Japanese to come up with such a cool invention! Once we can see the contaminated we can map of it. Once you have a map, you know what’s worth barrelling and what isn’t.
The sooner this work starts the better, as otherwise it will sink deeper into the ground. I am surprised it detects Gamma (as opposed to alpha or beta) but Gamma is the really dangerous one.