DHS awards $33 million for radiation detection demonstrations

DHS Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) on Monday announced the award of three contracts related to Stand-Off Radiation Detection System (SORDS) demonstrations. Contracts were awarded to General Electric Global Research of Niskayuna, New York; Science Applications International Corporation of San Diego, California; and the Naval Research Laboratory of Washington, D.C. In total the contracts have a potential value of approximately $33 million. The goal of the SORDS program is to develop advanced nuclear detectors that demonstrate the ability autonomously to determine the type and location of radiation sources at much greater distances than current technology. “The SORDS approach, if validated, could be used in a wide range of monitoring applications including border crossings, sea lanes and air surveillance,” said Vayl Oxford, director of the DNDO. “This program could create a significant increase in capability for monitoring the illicit movement of radiation sources.”

SORDS was initiated to explore new technology which would autonomously determine the location of distant radiation sources at the same time that it maintains sufficient energy resolution and sensitivity to discriminate between normally occurring radioactive materials, background, and potential threats. The objective is to develop vehicle-sized radiation detectors with the capability of determining the direction, flux, energy, and isotope of detected radiation, as well as the location of the radiation source. DHS says that another objective of systems developed under SORDS is a very low false alarm rates to minimize interruptions of day-to-day security operations.