US engineers have recently developed a hand-held radiation detector, which will be useful for frontier authorities wanting to pinpoint illicit nuclear shipments.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory unveiled the Cryo3, a 10lb battery-powered unit that will allow radiation spectrometry to better find hidden radioactive materials. The team made it portable by finding a replacement for the traditional coolant, liquid nitrogen. They successfully replaced the bulky liquid with a simple off-the-shelf mechanical cooling device.
