Development of a Non-Nuclear Soil Density Gauge to Eliminate the Need for Nuclear Density Gauges

Congress and various government agencies have recognized the problem of orphaned radioactive sources worldwide. This SBIR seeks replacement for existing operating nuclear sources of radiation in non-medical applications such as the portable nuclear density gauge (NDG), which poses two very critical national issues. First, there are an estimated 25,000 NDG units in the United States that contain radioactive material suitable for a ¿dirty bomb¿ and are being used on highway and civil construction projects. These gauges are portable and under limited control. Each year, approximately 300 of these units are reported lost or stolen to the NRC with only 150 eventually recovered. Second, since there is a cost associated with the proper disposal of NDGs, there is an incentive for some users to ¿lose¿ the units resulting in the improper disposal of these devices posing environmental hazards and economic costs. TransTech Systems, Inc. is developing a promising alternative to NDGs for the measurement of the density and moisture of engineering soil. TransTech¿s alternative employs electromagnetic sensing to determine material properties. The new technology has been successfully applied to measurement of asphalt and is being extended to soil density and moisture measurement.