Amidst growing apprehensions about the safety of the nuclear power projects, including the much-touted Koodankulam, Chennai-based IT company has partnered with Central agency Defence Research Development Organisation (Drdo) to develop an indigenous device to detect even minute levels of radiation leakage.
The device, dosimeter, has been developed exclusively for Drdo which wanted to measure nuclear radiation with no human exposure.
For now, golden leaf electroscope is the most popular equipment used to detect radiation leakages. However, it still needs a human agent to carry it to radiation-affected areas to detect radiation.
“The major drawback of this mechanism is that it cannot guarantee the life of the human agent carrying the instrument,” explains Mr Sridharan Mani, CEO of American Megatrends India Pvt Ltd (AMI), the firm that developed the device. However, dosimeter, developed based on a technology called Motes, offers complete control over the frequency of gamma readings.
Motes are small, low powered and cheap computer connected to several sensors and a radio transmitter. These wireless units identify the level of radioactivity around the area and transmit data using radio frequency.
“Motes provide the mechanism to determine radiation intensity levels without any human agent walking into affected areas. It can even be programmed to send alerts in case of varying radiation levels to alert members well in advance,” says Mr Sridharan.
The unit has been manufactured by AMI at its Chennai plant and has been supplied to Drdo on a one-time project basis. “We do not own the patent for the product but hope to partner with the agency depending on their requirement,” he adds.
The device can prove handy to a cross-section of people including hospital radiographers, nuclear energy plant employees, scientists working with radiation technologies, defense soldiers and radiation safety officers of the government.