2022 Business Innovation Award winner: Innovative Physics
Innovative Physics receives a Business Innovation Award for the development of neutron detector technology designed and deployed for decommissioning inside the stricken Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Primary Containment Vessels.
Innovative Physics is an award-winning R&D company specialising in evolving sensor technology, artificial intelligence, and pattern recognition in the nuclear, homeland security and medical sectors. The company works with foreign governments and business leaders across Asia, Europe, Canada and the USA. It has been involved in many significant, wide-ranging projects, from developing products and systems aiding nuclear decontamination and identifying security risks at airports, to developing techniques that will help speed up the process of detecting cancer.
Innovative Physics has developed cutting-edge neutron detector technology using silicon carbide (SiC) and boron-10 (B10) that rejects gamma radiation to enable monitoring of neutron flux in highly radioactive environments. The technology has been commissioned to be used within the tsunami-stricken Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant to monitor the neutron flux as the melted fuel debris is investigated in the Primary Containment Vessels and eventually extracted.
Creating the initial design, Innovative Physics has since gone on to create various formations of the neutron detector technology with differing geometric configurations to maximise the total surface area available for neutron detection, creating the optimal efficiency: maximising the capture of neutrons while minimising the capture of subsequent alphas.
This technology has the potential to be used for sub-criticality monitoring inside nuclear power plants, to monitor the neutron flux with extreme time precision closely and, if possible, aid in the prevention of critical incidents.
Innovative Physics has developed a world-leading detection technology allowing reliable neutron detection in harsh and highly noisy environments, therefore providing a new safety tool for decommissioning and reactor operations.
About the company
Innovative Physics is a physics and maths-based R&D company specialising in evolving sensor technology, artificial intelligence, and pattern recognition in the nuclear, homeland security and medical sectors. The company comprises 19 personnel, with a combined experience of 90+ years technology innovation, working with foreign governments and business leaders globally.