Small vessel radiation detection project launched in Seattle

Small vessel radiation detection project launched in Seattle Local authorities in the Seattle area have begun to check for the presence of nuclear weapons and radioactive material on pleasure craft, tugboats and other small vessels as part of a three-year demonstration program designed to close another potential vulnerability for ports and large vessels.
   The Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday that it plans to equip the Coast Guard, harbor police and other emergency responders in Puget Sound with the latest handheld and mobile passive radiation detection devices. The pilot program will also begin within a couple of months in San Diego.
   The department has programs in place of varying effectiveness to detect and prevent potential terrorists from sneaking into the country, placing a bomb on a plane, or smuggling in weapons of mass destruction through the international cargo system. In recent months department officials and outside experts have raised the fear of threats from the 17 million small boats, passenger ferries and personal watercraft that ply coastal waters.
   The radiation detectors are the first attempt by the government to prevent the use of small watercraft to smuggle a nuclear weapon or component into the country or launch a USS Cole-style suicide attack on an oil tanker, port terminal or other critical infrastructure.
   The pilot program is being operated by the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office within DHS on a $10 million budget.
   The department plans to focus on distributing handheld, backpack and mobile radiation detection units to local authorities for use during routine marine operations, such as safety inspections, traffic enforcement, or navigational assistance, or searches based on specific intelligence. The goal is to study the reliability and ease of use of the devices and how they need to be adapted for the marine environment.
   During testimony on Capitol Hill, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff suggested that fixed and mobile sensors could be placed at the water’s edge at a natural chokepoint in Puget Sound to take radiation readings. But a DNDO official indicated that large-scale sensors would not be used in that type of application in large measure because the distances involved were too great to acquire accurate readings.
   Fixed radiation portal monitors are already in the Port of Seattle and other ports where they detect for radiation in trucks moving containers through or out of the port. DNDO will evaluate the overall radiation detection architecture of a port for all modes and whether more devices are needed to reduce the risk, but the fixed machines are not being considered to protect against small boat attacks, Andrea Hoshmand, a policy analyst at DNDO, told Shipper’s Newswire.
   A more likely scenario is that patrol boats outfitted with small devices might be able to monitor commercial fishing vessels and other small craft as they pass through the channel entrance because the close proximity to the natural flow of traffic.
   DHS is testing prototype SUV and truck-mounted advanced radiation detection systems, and will use the pilot program to test the devices on patrol boats, she said. Truck-mounted radiation portal monitors are used in some ports to flex security where truck traffic is heavy, but the department is seeking upgraded technology that uses germanium and other materials to identify the actual radioactive isotopes and whether they are benign or dangerous. Additional work needs to be done to adapt the devices because the physics of the marine environment make taking accurate readings more difficult. Another line of inquiry is how small the devices can be made without compromising performance.
   Hoshmand also said that all Coast Guard boarding teams around the nation will by the end of the year have upgraded portable radiation detection devices and communication relay systems that can wirelessly transmit the sensor readouts to national laboratory experts for instant analysis of the radiation signature. The Coast Guard boarding teams also frequently inspect commercial vessels at sea.
   Chertoff said that after the pilot program has been assessed for effectiveness it could be expanded to other high-risk ports such as New York-New Jersey.