Free Republic

Engineers have successfully transferred digitally encoded information wirelessly using nuclear radiation instead of conventional technology. Radio waves and mobile phone signals rely on electromagnetic radiation for communication but in a new development, engineers from Lancaster University in the UK, working with the Jožef Stefan Institute in Slovenia, transferred digitally encoded information using “fast neutrons” instead. The researchers measured the spontaneous emission of fast neutrons from californium-252, a radioactive isotope produced in nuclear reactors. Modulated emissions were measured using a detector and recorded on a laptop. Several examples of information, i.e., a word, the alphabet, and a random number selected blindly,...

OAK RIDGE - Production of radioisotopes, a signature mission at Oak Ridge National Laboratory since the 1940s, is making a comeback of sorts. Last year, there was virtually no money available for the work at ORNL while the government's isotopes program was reviewed and reorganized at Department of Energy headquarters in Washington. Production of some radioactive elements - notably californium-252, which was in short supply - got put on hold in Oak Ridge during a situation that some characterized as a bureaucratic crisis. As 2009 came to a close, however, the supply of californium, a radioisotope with uses ranging from...