Radiation Detectors Installed at Canadian Port

Canada has installed eight radiation detectors at the Port of Montreal to scan the roughly 1,200 containers that pass through the facility daily for potential weapons material, the Canadian Press reported yesterday (see GSN, March 23).

The Canadian government plans to deploy 36 of the $200,000 portal monitors around the country.  Detectors have already been installed at St. John in New Brunswick (see GSN, Dec. 14, 2005), and placement is under way in Halifax and Vancouver.  Equipment is also slated for the port at Prince Rupert, British Columbia.

The technology “sends a signal to those who may be planning or who think they can get away with planning something like importing certain materials that may be dangerous that they will be detected,” said Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day.  “So this is a deterrence measure.”

The former Liberal government in Canada designated $155 million for marine security following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States (Canadian Press/Canada.com, May 7).

Meanwhile, testing of U.S. radiation detectors continues at Port Qasim in Pakistan, Dawn reported today.  Devices are being tested in Honduras and Pakistan under the $60 million Secure Freight Initiative, which calls for deployment of detection and communications technology at six foreign seaports to block U.S.-bound shipments of nuclear or radiological material (see GSN, April 12).

“We have reviewed operations at Port Qasim, one of our first ports testing the new integrated scanning system, and are very encouraged by the results,” said Secure Freight Initiative chief Allen Gina.  “Data signals from both the first and second radiation portal monitors and the X-ray imaging system were received at the National Targeting Center in the United States.  Alarms were tested and the first container was processed, which did not activate alarms.  No notification issues were raised.  We now begin ramping up capabilities to scan all U.S.-bound containers” (Dawn, May 8).

Back to top
About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines © Copyright 2008 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.