[ RadSafe ] Radiation Sensors to Scan U.S. Air Cargo

[Jim Hardeman]

Barbara --
 
I remember attending a session at an ANS meeting in San Diego several
years ago (i.e. before DNDO was spun up) where a DOE official from their
threat reduction office (I can't remember the official name of the
office at the moment) indicated that the official posture of the US
gov't towards improvised nuclear devices / nuclear weapons was
"prevention" -- but that the official posture towards radiological
dispersal devices was "recovery" -- not that, in my opinion, that
posture ever translated into actual funding to facilitate recovery.
 
If you make the presumption that the monitoring is primarily designed
to prevent the detonation of an IND on US soil, the cost-benefit ratio
looks a little better. I agree that with the possible exception of an
extraordinarily large RDD delivered to a carefully selected target -- if
you're only considering RDDs in your cost-benefit ratio, the math
doesn't come out all that well.
 
My $0.025 worth (inflated in accordance with rising fossil fuel
prices)

Jim

>>> <BLHamrick at aol.com> 9/11/2008 21:25 >>>
Interestingly, the LA Times if finally coming around.  Here's an 
excerpt 
from one of today's editorials ("Adjusting to 9/11"):

"The consequences of our war footing [i.e., characterizing our fight 
against 
terrorists as a "war"] are not only restrictions on our freedom and 
privacy 
that would never be tolerated under ordinary circumstances, but the  
expenditure of billions of dollars on measures that may not be
justified. As  just one 
example, is the degree of danger posed by the theoretical possibility 
that 
terrorists might put a "dirty bomb" in a shipping container really
great  enough 
to justify the amount we're spending to prevent it from happening?"

Finally, someone's paying attention to the cost-benefit ratio.   The
effort 
to screen every container for RAM reminds me of the whole  "the Large
Hadron 
Collider will suck us all into a black hole" nonsense.   Everything has
risk.  
We need to evaluate it intelligently.

Barbara




In a message dated 9/11/2008 12:15:51 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
cjb01 at health.state.ny.us writes:



"History is a nightmare from which I am trying to  awake."   ~ James
Joyce


Clayton J.  Bradt
dutchbradt at hughes.net 
*******************************

Thursday,  September 11, 2008


Radiation Sensors to Scan U.S. Air  Cargo


The United States plans to begin scanning cargo shipments on  freight
and
passenger aircraft for potential radiological and  nuclear-weapon
materials,
USA Today reported today (see GSN, June  19).


The scanning program, based on a recommendation from the Sept.  11
commission (see GSN, July 23, 2004), is aimed at closing a security 
gap
terrorists have not specifically indicated plans to exploit.   The
technology is scheduled to be used first beginning this week at 
Washington
Dulles International Airport, followed by another four  unspecified
airports
by the end of 2008 and ultimately at the 30 largest  U.S. airports.


*Our focus is on the international cargo,* although  radiation
detectors are
meant to scan all cargo, said U.S. Customs and  Border Protection
Deputy
Commissioner Jayson Ahern.


Some  airports could use dozens of the radiation detection machines,
which
each  cost $450,000 to put in place.  However, Dulles is expected to 
only
need one of the Radiation Portal Monitors.


The United  States should emphasize counterproliferation efforts
overseas
rather than  new airport checkpoints that could hinder the movement of
cargo, according  to critics.


"This is a gross waste of money," said Randall Larsen,  a terrorism
analyst
formerly with the National War College.  "They're  asking the wrong
question.  It's not how to prevent a nuke from  entering the United
States,
it's how do we prevent al-Qaeda from becoming a  nuclear power?"


U.S. Representative Ed Markey (D-Mass.) backed the  scanning effort.


"The detonation of a weapon of mass destruction or  dirty bomb inside
our
country would be a devastating blow, and we must make  every effort to
thwart such an attack," he said.  "Given the severity  of the security
threat, screening all incoming cargo for the presence of  radiation is
a
welcome and important development" (Mimi Hall, USA Today,  Sept.  11).
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