The UK’s National Highways is using a new novel technique called muon tomography, which works a little like a medical X-ray, to see through the walls of a disused tunnel. The survey is intended to uncover forgotten and undocumented shafts or even unknown voids in the structure of the tunnel. It’s a technique that could be used to survey old tunnels all around the world, and has been previously deployed to find hidden chambers in the Great Pyramid at Giza.
Up until now National Highways has used ground penetrating radar to gather information about similar structures. But the muon imaging, which harnesses cosmic rays from space to create powerful x-ray like images, is thought to be superior.
