The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is one of the national laboratories of the United States Department of Energy. It is managed by the Battelle Energy Alliance. Historically it has been mostly involved with nuclear research. Much of current knowledge about how nuclear reactors behave and misbehave was discovered at what is now Idaho National Laboratory.
Early in the conflict in Ukraine, nuclear threats and fallout became a harsh reality as fighting raged around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. A new technology developed at INL has just hit the market. It is designed to help first responders in a nuclear disaster or attack. The new technology is called the Colorimetric Detection of Actinides or CoDeAc.
Dr. Cathy Riddle is a Senior Research Scientist at the INL. She said, “CoDeAc will be a game changer for the military, for first responders. It gives them the ability to carry something that isn't a large, heavy meter. Anyone who's seen any of the militaries in all their gear knows everything is heavy enough. CoDeAc is a very small, lightweight pack and it can determine uranium in low levels and plutonium in under a minute.”
The CoDeAc works like a swimming pool test strip or a pregnancy test. When the solution is sprayed on surface, the chemical change color if they come in contact with nuclear contamination. The color purple indicates that uranium is present. A pink color shows that plutonium is there.
Dr. Riddle said, “Imagine that you have... an explosion in a large city downtown. You're going to have walking casualties. You're going to not know where that dispersal of radioactivity is. First responders are going to go in and they're going to start testing with CoDeAk, and instead of having a ten-block square area...you now maybe have an actual only one block area that is contaminated.”
Researchers at the INL who developed the CoDeAk solutions believe that the technology can help first responders avoid potential radiological landmines. The applications of the technology reache far beyond first responders. CoDeAk would assist workers in avoiding disasters in a future with nuclear energy.
Dr. Riddle added that “if you have a small modular reactor, you have a nuclear power plant. If you had your daily maintenance people taking a look, taking a swipe, using a CoDeAk tool or a wet towel, they can see if they have like a pinhole leak or maybe some of the weld isn't functioning well before they even start the reactor up. They can do these tests and they can fix a problem before it becomes a major issue.”
According to Dr. Riddle, CoDeAk is already being prepared for the U.S., U.K., and Ukraine’s military and first responders. The solution is already on the market and in high demand.
Unfortunately, the CoDeAk solution while useful within the nuclear industry, would not be acceptable for uses beyond that sector. A company called Image Insight has developed a mobile phone application called GammaPix. This software exploits features of digital cameras to detect minute bursts of light accompanying the emission of nuclear radiation. It is inexpensive and easy to use.