I thought that the headline "TV tubes could help contain Fukushima radiation" in The Asahi Shimbun( June 22, 2012) referred to containing radiophobia rather than radiation.
It was actually more mundane. The reporter was referring to the use of lead glass from obsolete TV tubes to fortify concrete. It seems that Japan accumulated over 100,000 tons of lead glass from TV tubes.TV tube glass contains 25 % lead.Lead glass is used in TV tubes to shield viewers from x-rays emitted by such tubes. Disposing old TV tubes is a serious solid waste management issue in many countries.
Researchers at Miyagi University have made a container capable of effectively blocking radiation made from concrete blended with lead-laced glass from the TV tubes. Such a practice is not new. Structural engineers mix ordinary concrete with iron ore (hematite) to increase its effective density. Denser concrete is more effective as a shielding material.
SHUNSUKE KIMURA, a Staff Writer of The Asahi Shimbun reported thjat the researchers made a a prototype container that is 10 centimeters thick and capable of holding 1 cubic meter of soil at a concrete factory in Sukagawa, Fukushima Prefecture, in late May.
The container is almost the same strength as a similarly sized one made of normal concrete and looks similar but was more effective as a radiation shield. Ordinary concrete has a density of about 2.5 gm per cc.
A 44-cm-thick slab of the lead-glass concrete is found to be as effective as a shield as a 50 cm ordinary concrete. May be if more lead glass is added, the mix may become weaker. Over all it does not seem to be a big deal, though for those who stored the obsolete TV tubes, the development will be a blessing in disguise.
It was actually more mundane. The reporter was referring to the use of lead glass from obsolete TV tubes to fortify concrete. It seems that Japan accumulated over 100,000 tons of lead glass from TV tubes.TV tube glass contains 25 % lead.Lead glass is used in TV tubes to shield viewers from x-rays emitted by such tubes. Disposing old TV tubes is a serious solid waste management issue in many countries.
Researchers at Miyagi University have made a container capable of effectively blocking radiation made from concrete blended with lead-laced glass from the TV tubes. Such a practice is not new. Structural engineers mix ordinary concrete with iron ore (hematite) to increase its effective density. Denser concrete is more effective as a shielding material.
SHUNSUKE KIMURA, a Staff Writer of The Asahi Shimbun reported thjat the researchers made a a prototype container that is 10 centimeters thick and capable of holding 1 cubic meter of soil at a concrete factory in Sukagawa, Fukushima Prefecture, in late May.
The container is almost the same strength as a similarly sized one made of normal concrete and looks similar but was more effective as a radiation shield. Ordinary concrete has a density of about 2.5 gm per cc.
A 44-cm-thick slab of the lead-glass concrete is found to be as effective as a shield as a 50 cm ordinary concrete. May be if more lead glass is added, the mix may become weaker. Over all it does not seem to be a big deal, though for those who stored the obsolete TV tubes, the development will be a blessing in disguise.
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