DHS to set up radiation detectors on highways

DHS to set up radiation detectors on highways    Several states will receive radiation portal monitors for use at interstate weigh stations as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s new strategy to protect urban areas from terrorist attack with extra layers of defense.
   The machines are similar to ones currently used at ports of entry to detect nuclear weapons and material in containers and trailers as trucks pull through the exit gates.
   DHS said transportation and emergency management agencies in Kentucky, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina and Virginia will share $3.2 million in grants to fund the deployment of fixed, mobile and hand-held radiation detection equipment at state-run truck scales.
   The awards represent the first phase of what DHS calls its Southeast Transportation Corridor Pilot program, a two-year initiative involving nine states and the District of Columbia to develop nuclear and radiological interdiction capabilities on the nation’s highways.
   In July, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff announced a Securing the Cities Initiative to explore how to deploy advanced radiation detection devices in and around cities to detect a truck coming into a city with a dirty bomb even if it didn’t cross an international border. A dirty bomb is made by wrapping a radioactive material with explosives.
   “The southeast transportation corridor sees some of the largest concentrations of truck traffic in the country. The work that we are doing in the Southeast will ultimately lead to a web of radiation detection systems on our nation’s highways,” said Vayl Oxford, director of the department’s Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, in a statement.
   Truck scales are not always open around the clock and some truckers with heavy loads, maintenance problems or delivery deadlines drive by weigh stations, raising the question of whether a terrorist would pullover for an inspection. In some states, state police will chase down the truck if they notice it go by, and have adequate staff on hand to chase down a violator.
   DNDO will also provide training for state and local authorities on how to operate the equipment, resolve alarms for benign sources of radiation, share information, and manage the shipment of radioactive materials from nuclear plants and waste treatment facilities.