Radiological threats

Investigation into Italian mafia's trafficking of nuclear waste
Italian authorities are investigating charges that the Mafia was paid by the national nuclear research center to dispose of nuclear waste; informer says Mafia bought plutonium from the center and sold it to Iraq in the 1980s
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U.S., Mongolia in nuclear smuggling agreement
The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has equipped more than 160 sites — ports, border crossings — around the world with nuclear radiation detection equipment; Mongolia’s airports, border crossings are added to the list
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Satellite images show early stages of Syrian nuclear reactor
On 6 September Israel stealthily destroyed a target deep inside Syria; examination of satellite images taken of the site before it was destroyed leads independent experts to conclude that Syria might have been building a gas-graphite reactor of about 20 to 25 megawatts, similar to the reactor North Korea built at Yongbyon
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DHS to inspect small boats, private jets
DHS is turning its attention to better screening of private boats and planes entering the U.S.; small boat inspection to begin with a pilot program in San Diego
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Nation states, not only terrorist organizations, consider dirty bombs
Six decades ago the U.S. seriously considered including radiological weapons (“dirty bombs”) in its arsenal; Syria and Iran are doing so today; U.S. should have a dirty-bomb nonproliferation policy
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DHS awards $33 million for radiation detection demonstrations
DHS wants a tehcnology which will be able to detect radiation from a distance — and determine the direction, flux, energy, and isotope of the detected radiation; three companies win the Stand-Off Radiation Detector System (SORDS) demonstration contracts
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UC Berkeley to examine new methods of screening for nuclear materials
The Academic Research Initiative, a new DHS-NSF project, give a UC Berekeley scientists $1.4 million to develop new methods for screening for nuclear materials
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DHS funds nuclear training
One-third of the current U.S. nuclear workforce will reach retirement in the next ten years; DHS joins with NSF to foster the training of the next generation of nuclear workers
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Smiths, GE call off JV
Smiths and GE thought that bringing their considerable detection know-how and assets together in a JV would create a mighty player in homeland security; but Smiths’s detection unit has been doing very well on its own, so the rationale for a JV was no longer as compelling
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Bruker in Phase III of automatic, unattended chemical detector
DHS awards Bruker $1.3 follow-on Phase III contract for the Autonomous Rapid Facility Chemical Agent Monitor project
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Sandia tests new approach to radiation detection
Sandia physicists have an idea: Scan freight containers for radiation not at the port, but at sea: “You’ve got days on the ocean, and you only get minutes in the port,” says one of them
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India delays decision on container security pact with U.S.
Indian cabinet was yesterday supposued to ratify India’s participation in CSI; cabinet delays decision pending U.S. clarification on tying CSI to non-priliferation pact
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Fake company obtains licence to buy nuclear materials
Sting operation proves that a fake company could obtain a license to buy enough radioactive material to build a dirty bomb
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DoE awards nuclear fuel cycle grants
DoE’s Office of Nuclear Energy awards grants to graduate students for research into closing the nuclear fuel cycle and recycling components of used nuclear reactor fuel
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IAEA is running short on funds
You would think that with problems such as North Korea, Iran, and securing nuclear materials in the former USSR, the IAEA would be given the means to make the world safer; think again
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