This photo provided by the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute shows its researchers checking newly-developed X-ray security scanner.
DAEJEON, June 22 (Korea Bizwire) — The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute said Tuesday that its Radiation Breeding Research Center had developed a hybrid air cargo X-ray security scanner using both X-rays and neutron imaging.
The hybrid X-ray security scanner was developed based on the concept that X-rays penetrate less in heavier objects, while neutrons penetrate less in objects containing light elements such as hydrogen and carbon.
The center developed an algorithm to discern objects by calculating the degree of X-ray and neutron penetration and applied it to the hybrid X-ray security scanner.
The security scanner succeeded in identifying 16 different types of materials, including metals, non-metals, organic and non-organic materials, by simultaneously using 6-megavolt X-ray and 14.1-mega-electronvolt neutrons.
At airports, which need to detect dangerous items such as explosives, existing X-ray cargo scanners are limited to checking only the shape of items.
The newly-developed hybrid scanner, however, can enable the rapid detection of explosives by visualizing objects through the assignment of a unique color for each object.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
