Archive for September, 2008
Radioactive Countertops
It sounds silly, but your granite countertop might be emitting high levels of radiation.
How? The high demand product, essential in kitchen remodeling and high end home building, may contain uranium, which is not only radioactive but releases radon gas as it decays. Don’t be suspicious of every countertop you run into because not all are considered dangerous. Recent findings show that the hazard depends on where in the world the granite was estracted from.
… Health physicists and radiation experts agree that most granite countertops emit radiation and radon at extremely low levels. They say these emissions are insignificant compared with so-called background radiation that is constantly raining down from outer space or seeping up from the earth’s crust, not to mention emanating from manmade sources like X-rays, luminous watches and smoke detectors … Nevertheless … “There is no known safe level of radon or radiation.”
Where to Find Tests and Testers
To find a certified technician to determine whether radiation or radon is emanating from a granite countertop, homeowners can contact the American Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists (aarst.org). Testing costs between $100 and $300.
Information on certified technicians and do-it-yourself radon testing kits is available from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Web site at epa.gov/radon, as well as from state or regional indoor air environment offices, which can be found at epa.gov/iaq/whereyoulive.html. Kits test for radon, not radiation, and cost $20 to $30. They are sold at hardware stores and online.
Northrop Grumman Develops Weapons-Grade Lasers
But where are the friggin sharks? I kid. I kid.
Wired.com wrote an interesting article about how Northrop Grumman is promising the Pentagon that it’ll have weapons-grade electric lasers by the end of 2008.
Northrop’s system combines a bunch of smaller lasers into a bigger one — Death Star-style, sorta. In March, the company announced that it had completed the first of these eight “laser chains.” Yesterday, the company said it had joined two of the chains together. What’s more, the beam combo ran at peak power — 30 kW — “for more than five minutes continuously and more than 40 minutes total; and achieved electrical-to-optical efficiency of greater than 19 percent.”
And with any military contract, Boeing is knee deep in competition as well.
The army just handed Boeing a $36 million contract to “continue developing a truck-mounted, high-energy laser weapon system that will destroy rockets, artillery shells and mortar rounds,” according to a company statement. Low power demonstrations are scheduled for 2010, with battlefield-strength laser tests to follow in 2013.
