日本研究人员利用回收饮料瓶的塑料制成能够测知辐射的传感器，可用于辐射探测仪，有望让成本下降90%。
京都大学助理教授中村秀人（音译）与帝人公司合作研究，设计出一种以PET材料制成的传感器，可用于制造小型辐射探测仪和较大型号的辐射值读数测量仪。
PET，即聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯，广泛用于塑料饮料瓶。研究人员利用饮料瓶制成一种塑料树脂，发现这种材料遭到辐射时会发出荧光，且强度好、柔韧、成本低，可用作辐射探测仪中的传感器。
当前，日本市场上传感器原材料大多从法国圣戈班公司进口，价格较贵。
帝人公司公关部估计，传感器售价大约1万日元（约合130美元），比市场现有产品便宜九成，最早会在下个月供应一些政府部门和企业。
帝人公司销售主管石井彻（音译）告诉路透社记者，“我们的目标是在9月底制成最终成品”、即辐射探测仪，9月、10月供政府部门和企业试用，随后逐渐供应公众。
日本东北部3月地震和海啸后，福岛第一核电站泄漏，不少民众争相购买辐射探测装置。
生物探索推荐英文阅读：
PET bottles become radiation detectors in Japan
To meet growing demand for radiation detectors after Japan's March earth*** and tsunami, which set off the world's worst nuclear accident in 25 years, a Japanese researcher has come up with devices made from recycled PET bottles -- inexpensively.
The detectors devised by Hidehito Nakamura, an assistant professor at Kyoto University in western Japan, in cooperation with Teijin Ltd, cut costs by 90 percent from existing devices, many of which come from foreign firms.
"We're aiming to have a final product by the end of September, given the ever-increasing demand following the March earth***," said Toru Ishii, a sales executive at Teijin.
Nakamura came up with "Scintirex," a plastic resin that emits a fluorescent glow when exposed to radiation. The resin acts as a sensor within the radiation detectors, allowing measurements of radiation.
The new material is expected to drastically cut costs for high-demand personal radiation detectors and larger survey meters to be used for commercial or official purposes.
Teijin's PR department estimates that sensors for detection devices will become available to high priority government organisations and companies as early as next month at approximately 10,000 yen ($130) -- one-tenth of the cost of currently available materials.
Derived mainly from PET bottle resin, "Scintirex" combines the strength, flexibility and low cost of the readily available PET resin with the radiation sensitivity of "Plastic Scintillators," currently the dominant radiation sensing material exported to Japan by French firm Saint-Gobain.
Until now, the French company has dominated the radiation sensor market in Japan. However, Ishii said Nakamura's invention is expected to compete.
Though Nakamura's findings were published in the Europhysics Letter journal at the end of June, development has been picking up pace, given the strong demand.
A massive March 11 earth*** and tsunami crippled the coastal Fukushima Daiichi power plant in northeastern Japan, sparking a fuel-rod meltdown and the biggest nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in Ukraine in 1986.
The plant is still leaking radiation, sparking widespread worries about radiation and demand for radiation detectors as worried Japanese decide to check radiation levels for themselves.
Once available, the product will initially be used by government organisations and companies for testing throughout September and October, after which it should gradually become available to the general public, Ishii said. ($1 = 76.770 Japanese Yen)
