While expanding nuclear energy production would provide carbon-free power and can help countries around the world meet their climate goals, nuclear energy could also come with some inherent risk. Radioactive pollution damages the environment, and it’s nearly impossible to detect without specialized equipment. But what if plants growing in the facility’s surrounding area could detect radiation pollution?
Our team of plant scientists at the University of Tennessee wanted to figure out alternatives to these mechanical radiation sensors to help address their historic failures, so we decided to build a plant-based sensor for gamma radiation. The sensor, called a phytosensor, is a potato plant that glows fluorescent green when exposed to radiation.
While expanding nuclear energy production would provide carbon-free power and can help countries around the world meet their climate goals, nuclear energy could also come with some inherent risk. Radioactive pollution damages the environment, and it’s nearly impossible to detect without specialized equipment. But what if plants growing in the facility’s surrounding area could detect radiation pollution?
Our team of plant scientists at the University of Tennessee wanted to figure out alternatives to these mechanical radiation sensors to help address their historic failures, so we decided to build a plant-based sensor for gamma radiation. The sensor, called a phytosensor, is a potato plant that glows fluorescent green when exposed to radiation.
Dosimeters sense how large a dose of radiation something in an area exposed to radiation would absorb.
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