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NRC rejects Westinghouse's new nuclear reactor design
In what must be seen as a setback for the nuclear power industry, the NRC said that a key component of Westinghouse’s new reactor design might not withstand events like earthquakes and tornadoes
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Landslide detector to be developed
Researchers are working in developing an early-warning acoustic sensor for the detection of landslides; current devices available for the early detection of slope failures are costly and technically limited
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Reveal Imaging awarded $3.9 million for personnel inspection system
The company said it plans to use multiple sensor technologies and automation to avoid the need for human operators to separate threats from harmless objects using multiple monitors
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A terrorist nuclear attack on the U.S. is a "preventable catastrophe"
Graham Allison assesses the likelihood of a terrorist nuclear attack on the United States — and offers the “Doctrine of Three No’s” to prevent such an attack; the central points of this doctrine: “No unsecured nuclear weapons and weapons-usable material”; “no new national capabilities to enrich uranium or reprocess plutonium” and “no expansion of the nuclear club beyond its current 8.5 members”
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A first: Criminals steal nuclear material, than demand ransom for its return
Criminals in Argentina steal cesium-137 from a drilling company, then demand $500,000 and threaten “to make this city glow” if they did not get the money
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Backscatter technology: the future of airport security scanning?
Manchester Airport is testing backscatter scanning technology from Rapiscan; the Rapiscan system works by bouncing X-rays off an individual’s skin to produce an outline image of the person’s body
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NRC investigates crack at Crystal River nuclear plant
The Crystal River containment structure is about 42 inches thick, contains steel support tendons, and is lined with steel plates; workers found a crack in the concrete about nine inches from the outer surface
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Kachemak sees growing interest from military, law enforcement
Alaska-based Kachemak Research Development developed an advanced vehicles’ undercarriage inspection system; the military and law enforcement are interested
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French may take intrusive measures to prevent inside-the-body bombers
Security experts are split over whether inside-the-body suicide bomb is a serious threat; the French say they may not take any chances, and warn that security measures at airports may become more intrusive
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Radioactive rabbit poo found at plutonium production site
A clean-up survey at the Hanford site in Washington State, where military-grade plutonium was produced during the early years of the cold war, discovered radioactive jackrabbit droppings around the site; the rabbits burrowed in the area and discovered the tanks in which nuclear waste is stored; they liked the salty taste of the radioactive cesium and strontium salts, so they began drinking and licking them routinely
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Imagining new threats -- and countering them
DHS air transport security lab is in the business of imagining new threats — then developing the technologies to counter them; their dream? To build a “tunnel of truth” in each airport lined with hidden sensors, scanners, and rays; passengers would get zapped and sniffed as they passed, and would not need to take off their shoes, toss their liquids, or anything else
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O'Hare gets grant for baggage screening system
DHS’s push for better baggage screening at U.S. airports continues; the latest recipient of baggage screening upgrade grants: Chicago’s O’Hare
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Princeton, Rice researchers develop new sensor for nitric oxide
Researchers develop new nitric oxide detector; the sensor could now be incorporated into a portable, shoe-box-sized system ideally suited for mass deployment in large-scale unattended sensor networks
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New York City to expand Ring of Steel's coverage
The system of surveillance cameras; license-plate readers; and chemical, biological, and radiological sensors that protect lower Manhattan will expand to cover mid-town
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New advanced sensors developed
Queen’s University Belfast researchers use Raman spectroscopy, which involves shining a laser beam onto the suspected sample and measuring the energy of light that scatters from it to determine what chemical compound is present; they mixed nanoscale silver particles to amplify the signals of compounds
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The long view
What We’ve Learned from Survivors of the Atomic Bombs
Q&A with Dr. Preetha Rajaraman, New Vice Chair for the Radiation Effects Research Foundation in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.