DHS tests three radiation detection systems at Belmont Stakes race

DHS officials recently announced that it had tested three developmental systems designed to detect radiological weapons at the Belmont Stakes horse race in New York held on Saturday, 11 June.

DHS was careful to note that the tests were not conducted in response to a specific threat, but rather to simply verify the efficacy of new technologies.

According to a press release, local police departments from Nassau and Suffolk counties worked in conjunction with DHS’s Domestic Nuclear Detection Office to “assess a new technology that could help protect the public at events at large venues from the threat of illicit radiological and nuclear weapons and material.”

Security officials currently use portable detection systems to scan for radioactive materials at large events, but the new technologies that were tested at the Belmont Stakes would allow authorities to scan a much wider area.

DHS tested two mobile Stand-Off Radiation Detection Systems that can be placed on vehicles. These systems are capable of detecting and identifying radioactive materials at extended distances. The third device tested was a Roadside tracker which scans for radiation sources in vehicles. The Roadside Tracker is capable of sensing radiation in swiftly moving vehicles in several lanes of traffic.

These devices are particularly aimed at assisting DHS combat “dirty bomb” attacks which use conventional explosives to scatter radioactive material across a wide area.