Radiation Counter
| Basic Radiation Counter | |
|---|---|
 Sensor Device | |
| Type | Sensor Equipment |
| Tech Level | TL–5 |
| Cost | Cr250 |
| Size | 5.0 liters |
| Weight | 1.0 kg |
| Manufacturer | Various |
| Radiation Counter | |
|---|---|
| Type | Sensor Equipment |
| Tech Level | TL–8 |
| Cost | Cr100 |
| Size | 0.5 liters |
| Weight | 0.2 kg |
| Manufacturer | Various |
| Advanced Radiation Counter | |
|---|---|
| Type | Sensor Equipment |
| Tech Level | TL–10 |
| Cost | Cr100 |
| Size | 0.1 liters |
| Weight | 0.1 kg |
| Manufacturer | Various |
A Radiation Counter indicates the presence and intensity of radioactivity in the immediate vicinity.
- It is a type of sensor.
- It may form part of a Ship Sensor Suite.
Description / Specifications
A radiation counter is used to detect radioactive emissions, most commonly beta particles and gamma rays. It can be preset to give a warning signal if levels of radioactivity rise to dangerous levels. Readouts are given in specifics for (and in terms of danger to) the Sophont species that created the device: most commonly this readout is preset to safe human tolerances.
- It is a passive sensor.
Detection
The rad is a metric unit of absorbed radiation dose, defined as 1 rad = 0.01 Gray = 0.01 J/kg.
A radiation counter is generally set to ignore normal background radiation.
| 25 | rads: | lowest dose to cause clinically observable blood changes |
| 200 | rads: | local dose for onset of erythema (reddened skin) in humans |
| 400 | rads: | acute radiation syndrome in humans |
| 1 | krad: | typical radiation tolerance of ordinary microchips |
| 6 | krads: | typical radiotherapy dose, locally applied |
| 10 | krads: | rapid fatal whole-body dose |
| 1 | Mrad: | typical tolerance of radiation-hardened microchips |
History & Background / Dossier
Radiation Counters are available from TL-5 onwards.
Basic models of Radiation Counter are the size of a liter bottle, while more sophisticated models are typically palm-sized. The Advanced Radiation Counter is a wrist-mounted version designed to be worn on the person or attached to the exterior of a Vacc Suit.
- Battery life is around 200 hours for TL-8 (or lower) models, and several weeks for more advanced models.
- Radiation Counters have a visual readout. More advanced models can be connected to computers for data analysis of radiation exposure.
References & Contributors / Sources
- Marc Miller. Imperial Encyclopedia (Game Designers Workshop, 1987), 56.
- Rob Caswell. "Travellers' Cache: Radiation Counter." MegaTraveller Journal 2 (1991): 41.
- Citation Missing - Traveller The New Era
- Greg Porter. Central Supply Catalog (Imperium Games, 1996), 29,34.
- Marc Miller. T5 Core Rules (Far Future Enterprises, 2013), 635.