[ RadSafe ] Radiation Detectors Sit Unused in Vienna Airport

[Marcel Schouwenburg]

Experts have warned that radioactive materials could be smuggled into 
Vienna's Schwechat airport because detection equipment is going unused, 
the Kurier newspaper reported Monday.

Austrian customs authorities in the airport do not check passengers or 
air freight for radioactive materials, according to the newspaper.

A radiation detector at the airport has not been used since being tested 
one year ago. Radioactive iodine used to threat thyroid ailments was 
setting off the machine, said Josef Pammer, deputy customs chief at 
Schwechat.

"In cases of alarm, we would have to immediately close the doors, and 
check out each individual passenger," Pammer said. "This would lead to 
panic.  The radiation detectors are unfortunately not yet sufficiently 
developed to enable them to distinguish between innocuous and dangerous 
radiation."

A radiation expert with the Lower Austrian Fire Brigade disagreed. "That 
is not correct," the expert said. "With border monitoring, more harmless 
radioactive elements can very readily be distinguished from uranium or 
plutonium. Even within seconds."

Pammer dismissed this criticism. "The EU has long been tinkering with a 
workable law for monitoring radiation," he said. "It would make more 
sense, however, to check freight and passengers on takeoff, rather than 
waiting till landing. The goal must be to prevent the export of 
radioactive substances" (Kurier/BBC Monitoring, Sept. 6).

Source: 
http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/2005/9/7/9E647437-0291-4968-B242-546A5D818D8C.html

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marcel Schouwenburg - RadSafe moderator & List owner
Head Training Centre Delft
National Centre for Radiation Protection (Dutch abbr. NCSV)

Faculty of Applied Sciences / Reactor Institute Delft
Delft University of Technology
Mekelweg 15
NL - 2629 JB  DELFT
The Netherlands
Phone +31 (0)15 27 86575
Fax     +31 (0)15 27 81717
email   m.schouwenburg at tnw.tudelft.nl