[ RadSafe ] Dirty Bomb Material Crosses Border

[Mercado, Don]

I wonder if the response or publicity would have been different if they had 100 Ci of H-3 in exit signs.

BTW, the GAO guys are transporting radioactive materials on public roadways. Were the materials properly packages, marked, labeled and manifested in accordance with DOT regulations? Were the GAO guys certified haz mat shippers? Was the vehicle they were in certified to transport hazmat?

Book 'em Danno!

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On Behalf Of Mccormick, Luke I
Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2006 11:55 AM
To: radsafe at radlab.nl
Subject: Re[2]: [ RadSafe ] Dirty Bomb Material Crosses Border


OK Now its time to jump in on this mess.
A couple of weeks ago, Officers get a hit on the portal monitor, a car with 2 gentlemen in it is referred to secondary, the officer asked them for ID and what they were transporting, they presented GAO credentials, mumbled something about an NRC license and radioactive materials in the back . The officer took their license copy and looked at the package which was full of 1 µCi check sources, the exact same as we use to check our PRDs, they photocopied the license and the IDs. Lets see, two government men carrying legitimate exempt sources across the border, what else can you do, let them go, and call the incident in. All as per SOP. Exact same thing gets called in from the northern border. Rick told me about it and complained that GAO was checking our portals. Curious, but nothing illegal.  It is not illegal to carry exempt radioactive materials into the country. We get thousands of hits per day. CBP Officers are well trained in the use of their equipment, and their SOPs. If they can't resolve the issue quickly, LSS is called and one of the CHPs assists them. We also did get calls from the Canadian Rad Protection folks. They are not pleased. Bottom line, GAO is grandstanding, the public is left clueless, Congress will get their shorts in a knot and throw more money at the problem and maybe I'll get to hire some more HPs.



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