News > September 20, 2007

By Liza Greenspun | News editor

In response to a call by the Department of Homeland Security for proposals for radiation detectors, Brad Jones, professor of chemistry, is working to develop the first handheld field instrument that can be used to detect and identify radioactive particles at the site of potential contamination. The device, called the “Tungsten Coil Atomic Emission Spectrometer,” can be used to quickly test water, dust, soil, etc. in the case of a terrorist attack such as a “dirty bomb,” or a Radioactive Dispersion Device.

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Brad Jones, professor of chemistry, stands with the atomic emissions detector device. Jones is leading the three-year project to help detect bomb emissions. (Sophie Muilinax/Old Gold & Black)

The Approaches for Combating Terrorism grant states, “The radioactive substances most likely to be employed by terrorists are not those enriched isotopes capable of sustaining nuclear chain reactions.” Rather, the report suggests that terrorists will use simpler, more readily accessible substances. “Such materials could be intentionally released into public water or food supplies, or they could be distributed over a small geographical area by the deployment of a Radioactive Dispersion Device or ‘dirty bomb.’”Jones said that terrorists would be more likely to use materials in a bomb that are much more accessible, such as substances used as tracers in cancer research and more.

“What would happen would not be that a lot of people would die, but that a lot of people would panic,” Jones said of what would happen in the event of a dirty bomb.

The advantage that Jones’ device, which will take three years to complete, would provide in this case is that the portable instrument will measure the levels of the metal and give results at the site, instead of having to take samples, send them to a lab and wait several days for results.

The device, jointly funded by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Homeland Security, will have the ability to detect and identify the materials, as well as to tell where they came from and thus who had access to them.

Jones explained that it will also have forensic uses in that it will help to trace the material back to who had it and will be able to follow the contamination back to the site of detonation.

The elements that the instrument can identify omit bright light that can be easily detected by the portable device. In order to perform tests at the sites, the device will need a car battery, whether plugged into the cigarette lighter with a cord, or by carrying along a portable car battery.

A laptop will also be needed at the site to record all the data.

Jones, who specializes in creating spectroscopic instruments, said that when he saw the call for proposals from the Department of Homeland Security he realized that he could adapt a device he designed in 1990 that allowed quick field testing for lead in blood samples.

That particular device quickly became obsolete, Jones said, because lead poisoning was no longer an issue when unleaded gasoline-use became widespread. Jones is leading the team of researchers working on the project, who represent four different institutes including Winthrop University, Western Carolina University and the Federal University of Sao Carlos in Brazil, in addition to Wake Forest, the host institution.