ISU’s Cole One Of Five To Consult IAEA

A local professor who analyzes dust particles has been asked to share his research on an international scale.

Idaho State University professor Philip Cole has been asked to speak to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the nuclear arm of the United Nations, on his ability to study air particles at a nuclear level.

Cole’s research is so precise that he was able to detect radioactive elements in eastern Idaho that came from Japan’s Fukushima-Daichi nuclear reactor.

Cole’s graduate student, Mayir Mamtinim, showed off one of the linear accelerators at the Idaho Accelerator Center where he and Cole do research.

“We have the, it’s called the linear electron accelerator. It accelerates electrons up to, let’s say, this particular machine, it can accelerate electrons up to 44 MeV energy. The electron would be accelerated at the same speed as the light,” Mamtinim said.

Mamtinim and Cole take literal dust particles, shoot them with radiation and figure out exactly what those particles are made of. Cole explains it better: “So I can take something that is very, very small on dust — barely able to see — smaller than a grain of dust, a grain of salt. And I can probe it with these photons and I can determine whether I have lots of lead in there, lots of uranium, things like that.”

Cole is one of five people in the world asked to travel to Vienna to talk to the IAEA about the process. The agency makes the most noise when it comes to nuclear weapons, but it’s interested in Cole’s work because he can see where nuclear material goes, and does that with a lot of success. Cole said the international attention could help the IAC grow by leaps and bounds.

“Now it’s not only for me, but it’s also good for our institute and good for the future of our university to have international recognition in something as fundamental as environmental research,” Cole said.

Cole is still hesitant to say exactly what this will mean for people in general, but one of the applications that he does want to look at is the impact of the industrialized world on pristine environments that include Antarctica.

The IAEA will hear from representatives from Argentina, Colombia, Germany and Japan as well as the United States on where more of this research could be conducted.