It is about time…
From my local paper, The Long Beach Press-Telegram:
LOS ANGELES Department of Homeland Security officials on Wednesday unveiled the federal government’s latest weapon to combat terrorism in the local ports: devices they say will screen every cargo container for radioactive and nuclear material.
The detectors work like the anti-shoplifting devices retailers use; any truck leaving the port with a cargo container must drive between two large yellow pillars that house the radiation detectors. Maybe not the ideal solution, but far better than nothing. The Port of LA has actually had 14 such detectors installed since June, and the Port of Long Beach will have 11 more installed next week.
More across the bump…
By year’s end, there will be 90 radiation monitors between the two ports, Customs Commissioner Robert Bonner said at a briefing at the APM terminal in Los Angeles. It will take container-hauling trucks just a few seconds to pass through the monitors, which are stationed near terminal exit gates. “We need to save American lives but we need to do it in a way that preserves American livelihoods,” Bonner said, reminding a panel of port and police officials that nearly half of all cargo coming into the nation moves through the two San Pedro Bay ports. “I’m confident the radiation portal monitors won’t materially slow down the flow of goods.”
Monitors are set up to immediately alert Customs inspectors in the ports if radiological activity is detected. The container would then be diverted to a second, more robust monitor that can pinpoint the radiation source.
It could also be subject to one of six X-ray imaging scanners in the ports, or to a physical inspection by a hazmat team if the container is believed to contain nuclear material, such as enriched uranium or plutonium.
The monitoring portals have been in use at the land border crossings from Canada since 2003, and more recently at the Port of Newark, N.J. Bonner said roughly 1 in 100 containers has set off an alarm. All 13,000 alarms in pilot testing as of March 2004 have turned out to be innocuous, he said.
Apparently, it is not unusual for medical supplies or other specialized goods to have small amounts of radiation.
There are currently 540 radiation portals in operation nationwide, mostly at land crossings. But Bonner said his agency’s goal is to install them at every airport and seaport terminal, as well as at every land border crossing with Mexico.
The Customs Commission is also trying to screen “high risk” cargo before it is shipped to the U.S. Additionally, x-rays and manual inspections have been increased 6 fold since 9/11. These are important measures because a container is not screened for radiation until it is on its way out of the port on a truck, so without other measures, a nuke could be brought in and detonated at the port without anyone knowing it is here.
