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Designer watches that double as radiation detectors are to be marketed
by Merlin Gerlin Provence, a French manufacturer which specialises in radiation
detection devices for use in the nuclear industry.

Next year the company and another French firm, Nomatek, also plan to
begin selling smart cards that detect gamma and X-rays. The two companies
unveiled their plans and prototypes last week at the International Radiation
Protection Association meeting in Montreal.

Merlin Gerlin Provence says its smart cards and watches have gamma and
X-ray detectors made of silicon that are just as sensitive as the hand-held
detectors now on the market. The devices will digitally display radiation
doses and cumulative dosages. When the dosage exceeds a programmable threshold,
an alarm will sound. The smallest detectors currently sold by the company
are about the size of a pack of cigarettes.

Jean Jaillon, the company’s marketing director, says the watches are
designed for doctors, nurses and concerned ecologists. ‘They are for people
who wouldn’t normally wear detection devices but who might feel more secure
if they did.’

He says the company will sell a basic watch device, costing about £300,
that tells the time and measures gamma rays. But it will also have a deluxe
model that is ‘more like a piece of jewellery’, which is expected to cost
more than £1000.

He says the smart cards are designed for workers in the nuclear industry.
In addition to detecting rays, they are also designed to be used in conjunction
with a computer. A microchip on each card keeps track of radiation dosages
over a period of time.

Nomatek’s Marc Lucas says this means employees who work in environments
where radioactive substances are used can monitor their exposure over the
course of one week, one month, one year or even, conceivably, over the course
of a career.

Statistics about a population of workers can then be quickly compiled
showing the radiation exposure risks in a specific zone of a work site,
Lucas says. ‘The cards will be like a worker’s radiation passport containing
a complete history of his or her exposures,’ he adds.

Å®ÉúСÊÓƵs at France’s Nuclear Research Centre, at Saclay, outside of
Paris, say the smart cards are small and comfortable to wear and they can
carry a lot of useful information.

Experts say the only drawback to smart cards is that for the moment
the cards can measure only gamma and X-rays. The traditional detectors
pick up other types of radiation in addition to these.