Industrial Niches and Scientific Labs Promise a $10 billion (US) Opportunity for Radiation Detection

The market for radiation detection devices used in industrial and scientific applications stands at roughly $7 billion in 2015 and will rise to $10 billion by 2022, according to findings in a new report from industry analyst firm NanoMarkets. Details of the new report, “Radiation Detection In Industrial and Scientific Markets, 2015-2022” including a downloadable excerpt, are available at: https://nanomarkets.net/market_reports/report/radiation-detection-in-industrial-and-scientific-markets-2015-2022

About the Report: In this report, we identify the key opportunities for all the major types of radiation detection systems and their applications in industrial contexts: oil/mining, scrap metal, food irradiation, pharmaceutical, nuclear energy, and scientific labs. We analyze technological advances in the field of radiation detection and point out detector trends beneficial to development in these commercial markets for radiation detection. This report also includes detailed eight-year forecasts for radiation detection equipment in the aforementioned industrial applications, broken out by types of detectors, end-user sectors, and by region/country.

This report also examines the products and companies that supply them to the major market segments. Companies discussed include:  Berkeley Nucleonics, Canberra Industries, Covance, Fluke Electronics, Fuji Electronics, General Atomics, Inveresk, Kromek, Laurus Systems, Ludlum Measurements, Mirion Technologies, Oak Ridge Detector Laboratory (ORDELA):, Ortec (Ametek), Polimaster, Quintiles, RadComm, RAE Systems (Honeywell), RapiScan Systems, Sanofi-Synthelabo, Saphymo, SE International, SMART Labs, and Thermo Fisher Scientific.

Highlights from the Report:

Some individual trends we highlight in this new report:

·Increasing demand for energy resources and depleting energy reserves will continue to drive demand for radiation detection equipment in the oil, gas and mining industries. NanoMarkets believes ruggedized in-situ detectors (gamma and neutron logging devices) will continue to gain due to affordability, product customizations, and greater suitability for drilling services.

·Radiation monitoring systems are being increasingly employed at scrap yards to detect any radiation sources reaching the sites, and we expect this trend to continue. Portal gate, area monitors, and handheld dosimeters will continue to have substantial use.

·Two distinct applications of radiation detectors in food irradiation are food quality testing, particularly packaged and processed materials, and monitoring workers and the environment inside the sterilizing chambers. NanoMarkets believes that radiation detectors will have a substantial market in this sector, and there are few highly-specific products offered today.

·Industrial radiography is a big market for radiation detectors. Automotive and aerospace industries will continue to be active users of radiographic inspection technology in order to identify defects through non-destructive testing (NDT) methods. Film radiography will probably continue to be used in small firms, while the large aerospace and defense manufacturers will move to fan beam CT.

·In nuclear power, radiation detection rather obviously has widespread use in all aspects. Despite shifting national policies since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, NanoMarkets expects this to be a fairly fast growing sector driven by both heightened safety concerns and new technology development. Two trends we’re watching include a growing emphasis on networked sensors, both within a plant and to compare plants of similar designs; and in more portable/handheld detection devices for both personal and environmental monitoring capabilities.

·By far the fastest growing segment of the radiation detection market is the laboratory segment. Dedicated research laboratories have substantial requirements for all types of radiation detectors and materials for functioning processes and observations targeting a myriad of applications, from “Big Physics” projects to medical and academic lab operations. Often these are customized, non-commercial detector set-ups designed to facilitate only a certain kind of specific analysis — and in most cases the cost of a detection system is not an issue.

·New niche markets for radiation detection equipment are emerging. For example, radiation, particularly gamma and X-rays, are utilized for preparing track-etched pores in different types of polymeric membranes. These membranes have very strong markets in medical science and the water purification industries.

·With so many industries now depending on radiological materials, the concern for leftover waste radioactive materials is staggering.  Various ways of storing and disposing of nuclear waste has been proposed — but all of them require radiation detection.

·There is a consensus on the discontinuation of gamma rays used in the industrial sector owing to their higher penetrating power in metals. Neutron inspection is fast becoming an alternative methodology, alongside X-ray based techniques.

About NanoMarkets

NanoMarkets tracks and analyzes emerging markets in energy, electronics and other area created by developments in advanced materials. Visit www.nanomarkets.net for a full listing of NanoMarkets’ reports and other services.