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ACRO develops a pen-like TATP detector
As an increasing number of companies develop portable, self-contained laboratories, ARCO jumps ahead to fight a common terrorist explosive; technology uses enzyme-catalyzed oxidation to produce colored pigments; low cost per unit a huge attraction for pen devices
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Westinghouse files patent for nuclear detector that overcomes lead shielding
Non-intrusive meathod of cargo screening propels deutrons into tritium in order to generate a powerful beam of nuetrons that excite hidden radioactive material
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JMAR warned by NASDAQ it may be delisted
Maker of popular BioSentry and other laser-based and X-ray detection systems receives note from NASDAQ that it is not in compliance with the minimum bid price requirement and may be delisted
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NRC established on-line nuclear material reporting system
From the construction to the pharmaceutical industries, many companies rely on sealed and bonded radioactive materials; the National Source Tracking System now requires next-day notification of purchases; data will be used to identify and track suspicious transactions
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AS&E reports Q2 financial results
Massachusetts-based radiation-detection specialist shows mixed financial results for Q2 2007; earning per share suffered as a result of the adoption in April of SFAS 123R, and the resulting pre-tax charge; the company boasts of the highest order backlog in company’s history — a respectable $117 million
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Smiths Detection moves forward with Tunnel of Truth
Scheduled for deployment at the 2012 London Olympics, the system incorporates a slew of automated measures to detect explosives and weapons; scheme resembles GE’s Checkpoint of the Future, including the use of the much-maligned puffer machines
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DHS announces winners of $113 million in portable radiation detection grants
Succesful companies include SAIC, Ametec AMT, Sanmina-SCI, Target Instruments, and Smiths Detection; DHS to purchase 1,000 handheld and 200 backpack systems
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AMETEK wins DHS contract for germanium-based nuclear radiation detector
There are several types of radiation detectors, but experts lean toward germanium-based gamma ray detectors as offering the best combination of resolution and sensitivity; a specialist in this technology has just won a $2.4 million contract from DHS — a contract with a potential $50 million value over a five year period
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Thresher acquires Talon
The market for the secure containment, transportation, and storage of nuclear materials is growing — what with these materials offering lucrative targets for terrorists and growing environmental concerns; Thresher, a company which knows a thing or two about casting and composite materials, is acquiring Talon, a specialist in manufacturing premium metal matrix composites
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ICx Nomadics turns men into dogs with new explosive sniffer
The Fido XT is used alongside canine units to maximize coverage; users must train themselves to imitate German shepherds; technology is sensitive enough to locate a pistol that has not been fired in ten years; robot mounting an option, too
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New business opportunities in radiation detection technologies
The North Korea nuclear test, and the inexorable march of Iran toward acquiring nuclear weapons, increase the risks of nuclear weapon proliferation; there are thus many opportunities in developing new radiation detection technologies
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GAO hashly criticizes the next generation of radiation portal monitors
Scheduled for deployment next year, the monitors failed to correctlty identify highly enriched uranium, whether masked or bare; GAO finds the cost of $377,000 per unit entirely unjustified and asks DHS officials to go back to the drawing board; Thermo Electron, Raytheon, and Canberra Industries to received $1.2 billion for new machines
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Researchers develop portable lab on a chip to identify WMD contamination
Soldiers and first responders are exposed to chemical and biological threats, so there is a need to develop a quick and accurate technology to identify dangerous exposure — a technology, moreover, which can be carried easily into the field or the urban disaster area to perform on-the-spot contamination checks; researchers affiliated with MIT have developed such a technology
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RAE Systems strikes a deal with the National Guard
Company will supply portable gas and radiation detectors to fifty-five Guard Civil Support Teams; agile Rapid Deployment Kits consist of four specialized monitors and sensors
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New analytical technique for detecting liquid explosives
ASU professor set out to develop a more sensitive enzymatic detector for better management of diabetics, and realized that the technology may be used for quick and accurate detection of liquid explosives; and a good thing, too, as terrorists show a greater tendency to move away from commercial explosives toward home-made ones
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The long view
The Once and Future Threat of Nuclear Weapon Testing
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is the central security instrument of the United States and the world community. It is based on a strategic bargain between the five nuclear weapon states in the NPT (the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and China) and the 185 non-nuclear-weapon parties to the treaty. The current worldwide moratorium on nuclear weapon testing and the intended ultimate conversion of that ban to legally binding treaty status by bringing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) into force are essential to the long-term viability of this strategic bargain.
A Meltdown in Nuclear Security
A commando raid on a nuclear power plant seems the stuff of Hollywood. So why are nuclear security experts so worried? It ranks among the worst-case scenarios for a nuclear power plant: an all-out assault or stealth infiltration by well-trained, heavily armed attackers bent on triggering a nuclear blast, sparking a nuclear meltdown or stealing radioactive material. Under pressure from a cash-strapped nuclear energy industry increasingly eager to slash costs, the commission in a little-noticed vote in October 2018 halved the number of force-on-force exercises conducted at each plant every cycle. Four months later, it announced it would overhaul how the exercises are evaluated to ensure that no plant would ever receive more than the mildest rebuke from regulators – even when the commandos set off a simulated nuclear disaster that, if real, would render vast swaths of the U.S. uninhabitable. Nuclear security experts, consultants, law enforcement veterans and former NRC commissioners are nothing short of alarmed. “You can’t afford to be wrong once,” says one expert.
Can American Values Survive in a Chinese World?
The People’s Republic of China bounds from strength to strength. Every year sees increases in its wealth and power relative to the world. But what do its leaders hope to achieve with their newfound clout? Jonathan D. T. Ward’s book China’s Vision of Victory traces the Chinese desire to shape the future of all mankind (not just the East Asian part of it) to a national myth taught to schoolchildren across China. According to this narrative, China was once the center of the world; China was the mother of invention, the seat of global wealth, and the beacon of civilization. This is China’s natural role in the world order—a role disrupted by the “century of humiliation” between the Opium Wars and World War II, when China suffered at the hands of foreign powers. But now that age of suffering is over. China’s destiny, according to its leaders, is to reclaim its natural perch as the leading force of human civilization. Tanner Greer writes that these global ambitions raises serious questions for the United States – questions which go beyond whether Americans will be willing to live in a world where China is the supreme economic and military power. The “hardest question may be whether we are willing to live in a world where dominant economic and military power is wielded by an insecure regime whose leaders believe that the same authoritarian techniques used to control enemies within their society must be used to surveil, coerce, and corrupt those enemies outside it.”