It will be some time before forensic engineering teams determine the cause of the failure of the Champlain Towers in Surfside, Florida, but speculation is rife that the building was not constructed according to specifications and contained less than the required amount of rebar. If true, there will be a major shift in the way construction projects are inspected and in the way that older structures are maintained and recertified. Costs will be significant, and which stakeholders will bear that expense has yet to be determined. One solution may be highly penetrating extreme nuclear inspection technologies look inside reinforced concrete for flaws, but these technologies are too expensive for routine use. Development of lower cost, highly portable systems could save many lives as American infrastructure ages in the 21st century.
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