New Gear to Improve Radiation Detection at Area Ports

By Gregory Richards, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.

Dec. 13–A new breed of radiation detectors is being deployed to scan all imported cargo containers hauled from the Virginia Port Authority’s three Hampton Roads terminals.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is spending about $2.5 million to update some of the Port Authority’s scanners to the latest standards, replacing the rest with new equipment.

The work comes amid a congressional mandate that the biggest U.S. ports scan all cargo containers for radiation by the end of 2007. The goal is to eliminate the possibility that a terrorist could sneak a nuclear bomb or other destructive device into the country by hiding it inside an ordinary-looking truck-size container. Customs is installing radiation monitors at all of the nation’s container ports.

Radiation scanning is nothing new for the state-controlled authority, which owns marine terminals in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Newport News. The authority bought and installed its own sensors in late 2002 in what is believed to have been the first deployment of radiation detection technology at a U.S. port.

That equipment needed to be modernized, officials said.

“This will kind of bring us into the next generation,” said Ed Merkle, the Port Authority’s security director, of Customs’ efforts. “It’s much more sophisticated equipment.”

The work has been completed at the Portsmouth Marine Terminal and at the north gate of Norfolk International Terminals.

Work is under way at the Newport News Marine Terminal, and at the Norfolk terminals’ south gate and railroad facility, said Mark Laria, Customs’ Hampton Roads port director.

The effort should be done by year’s end, he said.

Both the updated and new equipment look the same: flat, rectangular panels mounted on both sides of the terminals’ exit lanes. Trucks drive slowly through the pair of sensors that reach up the height of the containers, allowing the cargo inside to be checked.

More radiation alerts may result from the new gear, Merkle said. The authority’s previous radiation sensors were typically triggered about 1,000 times per year, he said. Forty percent of those stem in some way from truck drivers, usually from medical treatments they are receiving.

“My suspicion is that this will not come without some pain and suffering along the way,” Merkle said, based on other ports’ experiences.

With the upgrades, the Port Authority should save some money.

Customs will take care of the replacement equipment it is installing, shifting some maintenance expenses away from the authority, Merkle said.

The federal agency is also taking responsibility for operating and maintaining the scanners for the containers leaving the Norfolk terminal by train.

Earlier this year, Customs installed radiation detection equipment at APM Terminals’ new $450 million Portsmouth terminal.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.

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