Dynasil Announces Contracts Totaling $5.6 Million
for Detection of Nuclear Weapons and Dirty Bombs
January 22, 2009 03:36 PM Eastern Time
WEST BERLIN, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dynasil Corporation
of America (OTCBB: DYSL) announced today that Radiation
Monitoring Devices, Inc., Dynasil's research subsidiary,
was awarded three research and development contracts
with three year periods of performance from the Domestic
Nuclear Detection Office of the Department of Homeland
Security totaling more than $5.6 million to develop
new, high performance nuclear radiation detector materials
targeted to protect the nation from nuclear and radiological
threats.
One of the most serious threats faced by the United
States is the possibility of terrorists smuggling
a nuclear weapon into the country and the Department
of Homeland Security is seeking improved detection
equipment. Existing detectors tend to be expensive,
too small, or are plagued by false alarms from naturally
occurring radioactive materials, such as kitty litter
and ceramics, which emit radiation.
To address this challenge, scientists at Radiation
Monitoring Devices, Inc. ("RMD") will build upon their
35 years of detector development experience and examine
advanced radiation detectors made from innovative
semiconductor crystals. Mr. Kanai Shah, RMD's Principal
Investigator on these projects, stated: "The major
technical challenge is to produce high purity single
crystals with superior electronic properties."
These crystals are targeted to be used to build the
next generation of room temperature radiation detectors
that couple high sensitivity with unique discriminating
ability to identify radioactive sources. This could
provide Homeland Security, the military, customs,
police, and first responders with the tools they need
to detect and interdict these weapons of mass destruction.
According to Dr. Michael Squillante, RMD's Vice President
of Research, "This is a case of applying proven semiconductor
processing techniques to exciting state-of-the-art
electronic materials to solve a critical need and
potentially save lives."
RMD has assembled a team including personnel from
Raytheon Corporation and the University of Michigan
which brings together expertise in materials science,
detector technology and systems integration to potentially
investigate, develop, manufacture and deploy the resulting
systems.
About Dynasil: Founded in 1960, Dynasil is
a manufacturer of photonic products including optical
materials, components, coatings and instruments for
a broad range of applications markets in the medical,
industrial and defense sectors. Its wholly owned subsidiaries
are located in New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts.
This news release may contain forward-looking statements
usually containing the words "believe," "expect,"
or similar expressions. These statements are made
pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act. Future results of
operations, projections, and expectations, which may
relate to this release, involve certain risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially from the forward-looking statements. Factors
that would cause or contribute to such differences
include, but are not limited to, the factors detailed
in the Company's Annual Report or Form 10-KSB and
in the Company's other Securities and Exchange Commission
filings, continuation of existing market conditions
and demand for our products.
Contacts:
Dynasil Corporation of America
Craig Dunham, 856-767-4600
cdunham@Dynasil.com
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