Protective Garb to Shield Against Radiation.....

[global1]

As I was wondering this morning if workers in the nuke plant in Japan can wear a NASA spacesuit to perform their duties I performed a google search and found this story. Check out this link to a guy that invented a radiation suit that he is having sent to Japan:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/16/2118690/radiation-suits-from-south-florida.html

I'm glad to see that someone has invented something that could possibly be key in ultimately ending this Japan nuclear threat short of a full on disaster beyond Chernobyl.

I was thinking that astronauts have to be concerned with radiation in space as they perform those EVA's. So I thought that NASA might be able to help with their spacesuits. I also thought that since nuclear energy has been around for decades now that one would think that with the technology that we have that we would be able to develop protective garb for use in a nuclear facility that was close to 100% effective. I didn't believe that current Hazmat suits are all that effective for radiation. And lo and behold - I found info on this Demron suit. Hope it helps.

[Throckmorton]

1. Kind of pointless

The Gamma Emissions will pass right through, the beta and alpha particles are stopped by much simpler clothing.

[global1]

2. Read This On Wikipedia......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_protection

They say: .... shielding: The term 'biological shield' refers to a mass of absorbing material placed around a reactor, or other radioactive source, to reduce the radiation to a level safe for humans.<1> The effectiveness of a material as a biological shield is related to its cross-section for scattering and absorption, and to a first approximation is proportional to the total mass of material per unit area interposed along the line of sight between the radiation source and the region to be protected. Hence, shielding strength or "thickness" is conventionally measured in units of g/cm2. The radiation that manages to get through falls exponentially with the thickness of the shield. In x-ray facilities, the plaster on the rooms with the x-ray generator contains barium sulfate and the operators stay behind a leaded glass screen and wear lead aprons....

The last sentence in this passage says: "Almost any material can act as a shield from gamma or x-rays if used in sufficient amounts."

[Statistical]

4. Yeah in sufficient amounts like way beyond what human could wear.

it takes 2" of lead to cut gamma radiation to 1/16th levels.
It take 10" of concrete to do the same thing.
It takes 28" of water to do the same thing.

There is no effective man mobile method to shield gamma radiation that is why fuel rods are stored under 20 feet of water. That cuts radiation levels to 0.00000001% of the levels without shielding and that is what is needed to make it safe. All refueling operations in a reactor are done remotely behind a foot of lead lined glass.

The company making that suit designed it for low level radiation. They got a lot of free press by "helping out" and likely will get some sales. It will do nothing for the incident in Japan.

[Throckmorton]

7. Actually, the refueling takes place underwater

Lead Glass hot cells are used in Research Labs, Failed Fuel Analysis Facilities, and such, I have never seen one in a commercial power reactor.

[girl gone mad]

17. "refueling operations in a reactor are done remotely behind a foot of lead lined glass"

You really need to get some new textbooks and/or try to understand the things you read. This doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

[Statistical]

3. It takes 1/2" of lead to cut gamma radiation in half.

So 1" would cut it to 1/4. 2" would cut it to 1/16th. 6.25% of source levels.

There is a limit on how much lead a person can wear and still move. The gamma radiation levels are so high that cutting them in half wouldn't do anything. You would need something that could cut it by 90% and that would require and impossible level of lead.

[yellowcanine]

5. Forget the suits. An effective one would be too heavy to wear. They should use robots.

Actually I am surprised that all nuclear plants don't have a fleet of robots for just this purpose.

[Angry Dragon]

6. Too much expense sitting around because it will never happen

[yellowcanine]

14. Well we know it does happen so the expense is justified. Cheaper than not having it in the long run

if you consider the consequences of a major radiation release.

[Angry Dragon]

15. I am just commenting on their thoughts

They figure it will not happen so why spend money on something that will not happen.
Got to protect that bottom line .........

[lonestarnot]

8. won't the mechanisms that operate the bots just melt?

[yellowcanine]

13. Not talking about sending them inside the reacter. Just where people would go.

They could be shielded to operate in higher levels of radiation than people could tolerate.

[lonestarnot]

16. Yes then I guess. I'm no expert for sure.

[Statistical]

9. Robots aren't immune to radiation. They don't get sick but

they are affected by heat and high radiation can destroy computer chips.

[yellowcanine]

12. The point is you could shield sensitive components and they could still function.

[Ganja Ninja]

10. They're definitely going to have to think outside the box on this one.

I expect some sort of articulated arm(s) hanging from the end of a crane will be used to pick up whatever can be picked up.

[Motown_Johnny]

11. tin foil hats work best

:sarcasm: