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Thomas Dunne, EPA’s associate administrator of homeland security states,”Nobody’s going to build these things (facilities to handle the radioactive contamination) unless there’s a reason.

What reason? I’m not sure, but it sounds a lot like, “until something actually takes place no one is willing to spend the money to do anything”.

Government agencies lack the capability to deal quickly and efficiently with a so-called dirty bomb attack on the United States, members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Government Management Subcommittee were told Thursday.

“EPA’s analysis of the nation’s existing radiological laboratory capacity revealed a significant capacity gap,” Thomas Dunne, EPA’s associate administrator of homeland security, testified. “This capacity gap will result in a lack of timely, reliable and interpretable data and will delay national and local response and consequence management activities.”

A recent investigation by the House Science Committee found that the United States has a shortage of laboratories to test individuals exposed to radiation after a dirty bomb attack.

Asked by Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., what needs to be done, Dunne said the labs “are not going to stay in business unless there’s some revenue involved.”

He said there are fewer incidents that call for radiological labs and decontamination equipment outside of an attack, intimating that if the government wants the capability in place, it will have to pay for it.

Dunne said that storage capacity for contaminated soil, water and other debris is limited as well.

Source