Today's issue of the British newspaper The Guardian Unlimited reports on a "massive" U.S. government program to combat dirty bombs.
An excerpt:
But David McIntyre of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission says: "To make a dirty bomb you have to be fairly sophisticated. When you extract the material you run the risk of exposure." Which means radioactivity detectors will spot them.
To reduce the chances of a nuclear or radiological dirty bomb attack, the US is currently leading a colossal effort to install a network of preventative defences at home and abroad. Within the next year or two, every person and vehicle entering the US, EU and many other countries will have to go through a portal that scans them for radioactive materials.
The Guardian says the United States has installed more than a 1,000 radioactivity detectors since Sept. 11, 2001, but the technology isn't so great. Even goods as innocent as bananas and broccoli can set off alarms.
The Guardian explains:
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey reported in 2005 that it was getting about 150 false alarms a day from its 22 radiation portals. The culprits range from contaminated scrap metal to bananas, which contain naturally radioactive elements.
In Rotterdam, port guards are often alerted to radiation coming from broccoli trucks. Handheld scanners are then used to make sure more dangerous sources are not hidden inside.
In March 2003 a bus traveling from New York to Atlantic City set off a detector installed in a tunnel. State Police pulled the bus over and discovered that one of the passengers had received a harmless 10 millicuries of iodine-131 earlier in the day as part of a medical procedure.
Doctors advise patients having radiation therapy not to use airports for a few days afterwards but there are plenty of stories of people unwittingly setting off airport alarms.
One developing detector that's being installed along highways in New York while testing continues is the Advanced Spectroscopic Portal which is said to differentiate radiation sources and will be connected to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's massive database of licensed materials.
--Catherine MacRae Hockmuth
Comments