Handheld
radiation detectors tell you what you can’t see, smell or taste,
but what could make you horribly sick and at the moment their sales
have skyrocketed for that exact reason.
Radiation
is an invisible component that has huge detrimental effects on the
human body and unless you have something to detect it, you are
practically blind to its levels and won’t notice anything it is too
late.
The
nuclear threat is higher now than ever as superpower countries
compete, flex and test their nuclear weapons.
And
in one pocket of the world is the radical North Korea taunting much
larger countries to enter into a nuclear fight.
It
is this reason, as well as possible future struggles and conflicts
involving nuclear weapons that have seen a spike in radiation suits,
gas masks, and iOSAT pills sales
But
now the market is turning towards the likely possibility of your
first steps outside the front door of your make-do shelter to look at
how you might test the radiation of the air, the ground and water
after a possible nuclear strike or nuclear reactor leak after a
blackout.
Before
we look into what radiation detectors do and how they work, we should
look at why they are important.
What radiation can do to the body
The most common question people ask is “what will radiation do
to me”
To
answer something like this, we first need to look at how much
radiation is involved.
Radiation
isn’t just a one-hit kill type of matter, we are exposed to low
levels of radiation every single day, how much of it determines
whether we are affected or not.
In
looking at harmful levels of radiation, there are two different types
of exposure: acute and chronic.
Acute
exposure is where a dose of radiation is received all at once, this
would be something like an X-Ray or a CT scan you might have done for
health reasons, think of it as a once-off sudden impact of a packet
of radiation.
The
other type is chronic exposure, this is a level of exposure of a long
period of time.
This
would be where a nuclear attack has happened and you are walking
around post-fallout without protective equipment being exposed to
consistent strong levels of radiation.
This
has occurred in the past in places such as Chernobyl, Hiroshima and
Fukushima.
Rain or a bucket of water
If
you consider radiation exposure like water, you can either have a
huge bucket thrown at you all at once, or you can have a bucket’s
worth of rain on you at at a slow pour.
In
both circumstances, you are going to get very wet, but when it comes
to radiation, those effects can differ from the bucket to the rain.
Both
are obviously bad for your health, so with this in mind, when the
nuclear bomb was designed it included both to be a quick-effect as
well as a long-lasting weapon.
For
a person who experiences a nuclear explosion they will receive two
doses, one from the initial blast and the second from the fallout as
the particles sit on the ground post-explosion.
This
is why nuclear weapons are dangerous missiles and not something to
take lightly.
Health effects of radiation
For
acute exposures of radiation, the lowest count of exposure (25-50 rem
or rads) will see a drop in white blood cell counts.
For
the medically-termed Radiation Syndrome, which occurs at about
150-350 rads, there are typical symptoms of radiation poisoning such
as:
Nausea
Fatigue
Hair
loss
And
the skin goes red like a sunburn.
Anything
more and there is a 50% chance of dying within 30 days.
When
it comes to chronic exposure, where people are subjected to repeated
doses of high radiation counts over time, there are long-term effects
over time.
These
can be:
Increased
risk of internal or external bleeding
Fertility
problems, including loss of menstruation and reduced libido
Changes
in kidney function, leading to anaemia and high blood pressure
Heart
problems
Changes
in the skin
Loss
of hair
Future
birth defects
Bone
marrow death
Gastrointestinal
death
Central
Nervous System death
For
a nuclear bomb to hit a city, the blast would be anywhere from 5-10
miles with a strength of 500 rads.
That
means most people in that vicinity would suffer death from the blast,
or the fallout.
For
those that are caught in the fallout, a highly recommended medication
is potassium iodide (iOSAT) to limit the body’s absorption of
radiation particles.
Using radiation detectors
You
can see why there’s a need to detect radiation.
Without
something like a radiation detector we are essentially guessing what
the radiation value is until someone gets incredibly sick, then we
know we are in trouble.
This
is essentially a human canary in a coal mine.
Using
the right protective equipment against radiation is paramount, but to
know when that equipment is needed, or not, is also essential.
How do radiation detectors work?
Radiation
detectors have built-in ionizing radiation detectors that use gas
molecules that ionise with radiation particles setting off electrons
in a reaction known as a Geiger Discharge.
This
is why most radiation detectors are also referred to as Geiger
Counters.
For
most handheld radiation detectors, their best and most accurate
detection is in confined spaces, topsoil and objects that may have
radiation contamination.
What about the effect of an electromagnetic pulse against
radiation detectors?
Thankfully, because a lot of these devices are designed for the
purpose of nuclear radiation detection, they have in-built
mechanisms to cope with EMP waves. Personally, with a device like
this, I wouldn’t risk the chance that the electrics could become
faulty so I would either: At the warning of a nuclear attack, keep
the radiation detector in the microwave with any other electrics and
plug it in at the wall for grounding
-
-
These
solutions would ensure any radiation detectors are still able to work
after a nuclear attack.
How to use radiation detectors
Handheld
radiation detectors available on the market today are very easy to
use, this is also one of the reasons why they are being widely
purchased at the moment as a simple-to-use device to detect a
terribly harmful material.
The
alert timing of these instruments varies from 5 – 20 seconds
depending upon the radiation count and the capacity of the radiation
detector you decide to use. For most radiation detectors, 20 seconds
provides a highly accurate result as to the level of radiation the
detector encounters.
When
you are using the device, the indicator screen will display the
reading in either in:
Sieverts (Sv) – unit of ionizing radiation dose and a measure of
the health effect of low levels of ionizing radiation on the human
body; or
Counts Per Minute (CPM)/ Counts Per Second (CPS); or
Roentgens per hour (mR/hr)
How to choose the right one
Choosing
the right radiation detectors are important when looking at this
equipment as this is something you don’t want failing or giving
inaccurate readings.
To
know how to choose the best radiation detector is simple, they need
to have a certification by a country that has put these items under
real test conditions. For the US, this would be an NRC certification.
However, some of the big selling radiation detectors have also been
certified in Japan and Germany.