Evaluating Testing, Costs, and Benefits of Advanced Spectroscopic Portals. Final Report (Abbreviated Version)

摘要

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) searches for smuggled nuclear and radiological material by scanning more than 20 million cargo containers that enter the United States each year. In the initial scanning step used at ports and border crossings today, a truck bearing a cargo container is driven slowly through a PVT radiation portal monitor (PVT RPM), consisting of radiation detectors mounted in a tower located on each side of the inspection roadway. This is called primary inspection. For various reasons some conveyances are selected for additional scrutiny and are sent to secondary inspection. In secondary inspection, the truck is driven very slowly through another PVT RPM, and after the truck stops, a CBP officer scans the truck and the container with a handheld radiation detector device called a radioisotope identification device (RIID). DNDO, which holds the government's primary responsibility for improving CBP's radiation detection capabilities at the nation's ports of entry, advocated for development and deployment of better portals to replace the current detectors.