DHS Scans 98 Percent of Imports for Radiation

The Department of Homeland Security scans 98 percent of imported cargo for radiation, according to a new report. The report touts the department’s achievements in the five years since the 9/11 Commission reported on U.S. preparedness to face terrorist attacks.

According to the report, Customs and Border Protection operates at 58 ports around the world to screen containers for terrorist risk under the Container Security Initiative. Under the separate Secure Freight Initiative, the agency scans all containers at five ports.

Under the law Congress passed last year to implement all recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, it called for 100 percent scanning of all U.S.-bound cargo by 2012. The report is silent on the department’s progress toward meeting that goal, although last year officials told Congress that they would not meet the deadline.

The SAFE Port Act of 2006 called for a scan-all pilot program at three ports. Customs expanded the pilot to two additional locations.

The 9/11 Commission report made no recommendations on surface cargo security, but strongly recommended improving screening of airline luggage and cargo. DHS reported that the Transportation Security Administration is screening all baggage, and 95 percent of freight shipped aboard passenger aircraft. TSA is on track to reach the 100 percent target by next month, another congressional mandate, DHS said.

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Man Had Enough Uranium For Dirty Bomb – Melbourne

A Victorian man who was arrested and charged last month with serious drug offences held enough uranium at a storage facility to make a “dirty bomb”.

The Melbourne Magistrates Court heard yesterday that investigators found the uranium oxide powder at Harcourt, outside Castlemaine, along with drug equipment and a confidential police document.

It was alleged by a detective that Andrew John McNaughton, 45, became a target of the police Petra taskforce in December after “intelligence indicated that he was involved in police corruption by way of sourcing and distributing restricted confidential Victoria Police information”.

The court heard that an explosives expert found that the uranium could be used in the “construction” of a dirty bomb and that other chemicals for drug manufacture could in combination make an “incendiary device”.

Detective Sergeant Peter Kos said in evidence that the uranium was “depleted” and only dangerous if ingested.

He agreed with defence lawyer Rob Stary that it “effectively has no use at all” except as a measure to determine radioactivity.

But Sergeant Kos, who said the maximum penalty in Victoria for possessing uranium was about a $15,000 fine, said its other possible use was for a dirty bomb.

Mr Stary told magistrate Peter Lauritsen that while its presence might cause “disquiet”, there was no suggestion by police the uranium was for “any other sinister purpose”.

Prosecutor Stephen Payne said police opposed bail for McNaughton on grounds that included that he was an unacceptable risk of reoffending and endangering the public.

Man had ‘enough uranium for bomb’ | theage.com.au.

Bomb Squad Investigates Suspicious Suitcases

The Holiday Inn in Port St. Lucie was evacuated Thursday night as the St. Lucie bomb squad investigated suspicious suitcases a guest had brought there.

While information was sketchy, officials said the guest, possibly in his 50s, checked into the hotel at the northeast corner of U.S. 1 and Jennings Road about 5 p.m. A few minutes later, the guest called 911 to say he had respiratory problems, possibly radiation poisoning.

The guest was taken to St. Lucie Medical Center in Port St. Lucie to be checked out.

An initial sweep of the guest’s black, briefcase-type bag indicated there could be something there, although officials said a second sweep cleared both the bag and the man of any radiation. Because of the conflicting information, the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office bomb squad was called into check out the bag.

The bomb squad’s robotic device was seen carrying something from the hotel. Shortly after 9 p.m., officials said the bomb squad was going back in for a second bag.

At 10 p.m., the bomb squad blew up one of the bags; officials did not say what they were going to do with the second bag. Officials later said one of the bags contained a cell phone charger and papers.

A Hazmat team from St. Lucie County Fire Division was brought in to clean up the room after th

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Miniature Nuclear Reactors Could Become Terror Risk

Miniature nuclear reactors, once the stuff of science fiction, soon may be coming to a town near you — that is, if terrorists don’t pick them off on the way.

Reactors being developed by Hyperion Power Generation of Santa Fe, N.M.; NuScale Power of Corvallis, Ore., and the giant Japanese conglomerate Toshiba use different nuclear fuels, but all rely on the same basic design: a self-contained cylindrical nuclear reactor that is factory-sealed and produces electricity for years without any human oversight or maintenance.

Each reactor would be transported to a site, buried underground, hooked up to a power grid and started up.

After five to 20 years, depending on the design, the nuclear fuel would exhaust itself and the cool reactor would be dug up and shipped back to the manufacturer.

The companies hope to have their minireactors on the market and running within the next decade, marking what could be the beginning of a nuclear-energy renaissance.

But critics say there are safety and security risks, as well as the possibility that the reactors could fall into the hands of terrorists. And those risks, they say, outweigh any benefits the minireactors may bring.

“Our concern is that it really takes a concerted effort to protect a nuclear power plant from terrorist attack,” said Edwin Lyman, a senior scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists. “It’s just not plausible that you could deploy these small reactors widely to communities and the developing world with no infrastructure and no experience with operating and protecting a nuclear reactor.”

Michael Greenberger, professor at the University of Maryland School of Law and the director of the University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security, said the minireactors’ size will make them attractive to terrorists.

“Anything that’s portable, provides technology, would assist terrorists in their goal to perfect a nuclear weapon, and it’s very dangerous to the United States,” Greenberger said.

But the companies that are designing the minireactors say they will be safe in every way.

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Using Personal Technologies To Detect Explosives, Dirty Bombs and More

As science races to confront terrorism with new technology, researchers are unveiling a new generation of devices featuring ever-more sophisticated sensors to quickly detect explosives, radiation, chemicals and biological agents. Read more