Lab reduces false radiation alarms at ports

January 25, 2016

The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory developed a way to more efficiently calibrate the detectors to ignore low-level and nature radiation bought by international cargo when they pass the US ports.  Because of the false alarm, the agents from Customs and Border Protection need to reinspect the cargo.   However, the new system has reduced the alarm rates dramatically by an average of 78 percent at seaports and an average of 44 percent at land border crossings.   Moreover, the new system also reduced 50% alarm rates on mobile monitors.  The reductions on false alarm saves Customs and Border Protection more than 57,000
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Congress faces pressure to help rejected nuclear workers

January 20, 2016

Even with $12 billion federal program in helping sick nuclear-weapons workers, there are still tens of thousands sick nuclear workers were not able to have the compensation from the U.S. government leading an investigation. Because of the bureaucratic hurdles, many of the sick workers had to fight for their illness and the government in their final years. The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program was launched in 2001. Under this program, 53,000 sickened or dead workers got compensated but the money went to surviving relatives in many cases. On the other hand, 7,762 workers did not get any compensation even
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Tokyo food radiation safety: It’s personal

January 7, 2016

The attitude toward food safety is rather a personal preference among the Tokyo residents after the Fukushima nuclear plant incidence which led to a serious radiation scare. Checking for food labels may be enough for some consumers, but some take it to the next level by going to the radiation monitoring stations to ensure food safety. On the other hand, many of them already went back to the normal as they were before the disaster. Although the government has been setting up radiation monitoring centers for people to check food safety, getting yes-or-no answers is not easy. People still need
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Fukushima Radiation Continues Spread

December 9, 2015

Four years after the meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi, tests of hundreds of water samples from the Pacific Ocean have revealed that the nuclear power plant continues to leak radioactive isotopes from the accident. However, the levels are still too low to harm human or ocean life, according to scientists. “Despite the fact that the levels of contamination off our shores remain well below government-established safety limits for human health or to marine life, the changing values underscore the need to more closely monitor contamination levels across the Pacific,” cautions Ken Buesseler, marine radiochemist with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Woods
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Cancer Patients Turned Away at Safdarjung India

December 4, 2015

Dozens seeking cancer treatment were turned away from Safdarjung Hospital in India as the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) shut down the hospital’s radiotherapy department. According to AERB regulations, hospitals cannot administer radiation therapy without a Radiation Safety Officer (RSO). Although Safdarjung Hospital already had an RSO, the AERB did not recognize her because she submitted her application for renewal in print while the AERB had transitioned to an online system. Until the RSO resubmits her application online, the hospital must direct all new cancer patients—upward of 120 each week—to one of three other government hospitals that offer cancer care.
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Remembering Paris

November 20, 2015

The recent violence in Paris reminds us all how fragile life can be X-Z LAB extends its heartfelt sympathies to the victims and their families. Sentiment is appreciated, but X-Z LAB will also back this up with action by accepting your stories and posting or reposting them to our page as a tribute. Simply email contact@x-zlab.com about the subject and we will feature you on a post on our page. Standing true to our motto, Engineering a Safer World, our devices—like RadPavise and RadWall S—are utilized by first responders and safety professionals to not only keep them safe but the public too.
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Prolonged Low-Dose Radiation Increases Risk of Cancer Mortality

October 30, 2015

A recent international study found evidence for a marginal increased risk of dying from cancer due to prolonged low-level radiation exposure. While ionizing radiation has been established as a cause of cancer, previous research that forms the basis for radiation protection standards has mainly focused on people exposed to acute, high-level radiation. Coordinated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the study followed cohorts of over 300,000 people who worked in nuclear industries for an average of 12 years in France, the U.K., and the U.S. Researchers estimated that 209 of the 19,064 deaths from cancers other than
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Invasive Cardiologists Are Exposed to Greater Left-Sided Cranial Radiation

October 2, 2015

According to research published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), interventional cardiologists receive higher radiation exposure to the left side of their heads than the right side while performing fluoroscopically guided invasive cardiovascular (CV) procedures. The study followed seven cardiology fellows and four attending physicians who performed diagnostic and interventional CV procedures while wearing non-lead, XPF (barium sulfate/bismuth oxide) layered caps to attenuate radiation. Dosimeters were placed inside and outside of the caps at the left, center, and right sides of the operators’ heads to measure exposure. The researchers found that radiation levels at the outside
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