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Printer FriendlyReprinted with permission from Popular Mechanics, May 2000.
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Sensor Listens To Metal
The ultrasound technology that gives parents their first look at their future children will let engineers check the health of nuclear power plants.
Radiation fields prematurely weaken many high-strength metals and make it difficult and dangerous to inspect critical parts.
A new type of sensor that tunes out background noise will provide a clearer ultrasound picture of corrosion and metal-weakening fractures. Developed by the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, WA., (www.pnl.gov) the tool arrives at a propitious moment. Licenses for nuclear reactors built in the 1970s will soon expire. Ultrasound images could furnish the information the Nuclear Regulatory Commission needs to determine which reactors can be safely relicensed.
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