Smartphone to detect Fukushima's radiation
SOFTBANK PRESIDENT MASAYOSHI SON INTRODUCES PANTONE 5. AFP PHOTO / YOSHIKAZU TSUNO
Softbank Corporation, a mobile phone operator, has created a new smartphone with radiation detectors, tapping into concerns that atomic hotspots remain along Japan's eastern coast more than a year after the Fukushima crisis.
After Fukushima's nuclear plant was devastated by an earthquake and a tsunami on 11 April 2011, some parts of northeastern Japan are still off-limits due to high radiation levels. Because of this situation, several groups of people are calling for radiation monitoring in public points, like schools.
The mobile device, named Pantone 5 and which goes on sale this summer, will come in eight bright colors and include customized IC chips made by Sharp Corp that measure radiation levels in microsieverts per hour. The smartphone, also keep track of each location a user tests for radiation levels.
Masayoshi Son, Softbank CEO and founder, became a critic of nuclear power and advocate of renewable energy sources after last year's quake, explained that the new mobile phone will be more portable and user-friendly than conventional Geiger counters, a type of particle detector that measures radiation.
"The threat from the nuclear accident cannot be seen by the human eye and continues to be a concern for many people, especially for mothers with small children," he said.
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