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DHS names six ports to kick-start the Secure Freight Initiative
Port Qasim, Puerto Cortes, and Port Salalah among the first to install radiation detection equipment; DHS allocates $60 million to buy the equipment; Dubai Ports once again in the news, but nobody has yet to complain; only 7 percent of outgoing cargo to be inspected
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Los Alamos looks to create self-disabling nuclear warheads
Under a secret three year program, scientists have been working on methods to automatically destroy a warhead if it is stolen or tampered with; though details are secret, method might involve an acid that destroys the mechanisms and contaminates the radiactive core
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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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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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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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Possible North Korean nuclear test brings business opportunities
Demand seen for small radiation detectors in Asia; manufacturers of potassium iodite, potassium iodide, and potassium iodate should start reviewing inventory now
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Senate passes port inspection deal; no 100% inspection
The beefed-up port security measure places heavy emphasis on radiation detection at U.S. ports, but Republicans fought off Democrats’ demand to include a mandatory 100% inspection of all U.S.-bound cargo containers; bill also increases funding for rail and land transportation security
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Lobbyists resist homeland security measures recommended by 9/11 Commission
Farmers fight off ammonium nitrate controls; television station opposes handing over frequency for emergency services; retailers stick to their guns on radiological screening of containers
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Carbon nanotubes may reduce reliance on nuclear materials
The most pressing nuclear risk is the one involving a dirty bomb: Nuclear materials are used for routine operations by tens of thousands of commercial establishments, requiring a vast system of shipment, handling, and storage; many of these facilities, and practically all of the shipping procedure, are but loosely guarded, if that, offering easy targets for terrorists intent on obtaining the material; would that we had a technology which would reduce our reliance on nuclear materials; Applied Nanotech believes it has such a technology
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Doctors group assails DHS radiological planning
Physicians for Social Responsibilty says DHS has no plan to evacuate communities downwind from a dirty nuke attack; field emergency plans inadequate; DHS says report “lacks a grasp of reality”
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Parsons, along with eleven other companies, receives nuclear waste advanced remediation technology contract
Company will further develop its Continuous Sludge Leaching and New Tank Cesium Removal technologies; total value of six-month contracts is $3.3 million
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London arrests should prompt interest in fluoroscopic detection system
In tests conducted in spring 2004, TSA found that, compared with X-ray machine systems, screeners using the fluoroscopic system from Golan Group were more likely to detect IEDs — especially those “artfully concealed”; it is time to consider to act on the study’s conclusions
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The consequences of one nuclear bomb smuggled into a port in a container
A RAND study says that a 10-kiloton nuclear explosion at the Port of Long Beach could kill 60,000 people instantly, expose 150,000 more to hazardous radiation, and cause ten times more economic loss than the 9/11 terrorist attacks
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The long view
Keeping the Lights on with Nuclear Waste: Radiochemistry Transforms Nuclear Waste into Strategic Materials
How UNLV radiochemistry is pioneering the future of energy in the Southwest by salvaging strategic materials from nuclear dumps –and making it safe.
Model Predicts Long-Term Effects of Nuclear Waste on Underground Disposal Systems
The simulations matched results from an underground lab experiment in Switzerland, suggesting modeling could be used to validate the safety of nuclear disposal sites.