QinetiQ North America (QNA) has partnered with VeriTainer Corp., a small research and development firm that has developed and tested a radiation detection system that can be integrated on dockside cranes that load and unload shipping containers, to offer the radiation detection system to customers in the U.S. and elsewhere.
QNA is the U.S.-based division of Britain’s QinetiQ.
VeriTainer’s VeriSpreader completed a second phase of self-funded tests this spring at the Port of Oakland, Calif., successfully scanning 30,000 containers, John Alioto, the company’s chairman and CEO, tells TR2 (TR2, May 30).
Unlike current radiation portal monitor technology that only scans containers for radiation as they are leaving a port, VeriSpreader would do it as it’s either being unloaded, or possibly loaded, from a ship. The system completes a scan during the normal time it takes for a crane to move a container so there is no impact to port operations, Alioto says.
Moreover, VeriTainer believes that its solution is the only one that can meet congressional mandates for 100 percent radiation of all shipping containers entering the U.S. via seaports. That’s because VeriSpreader would also screen intermodal cargo, which is containers that are lifted straight from a ship and put directly onto a rail car. Currently, those types of shipments are not screened for radiation.
Now the goal is to market, package and sell VeriSpreader as well as continue further development, Alioto says. That’s where QinetiQ comes in.
“With the global reach of the QinetiQ Group, we will be able to assist governments and port personnel around the world with their efforts to find the most cost-effective solution to this potential terrorist threat,” Alioto says. “In QinetiQ, we have the partner that can help us deliver integrated solutions worldwide.”
QNA, which has been built up over the past few years through acquisitions and organic growth, has 5,500 employees and over $1 billion in annual business.
The successful tests of VeriSpreader in Oakland paved the way for VeriTainer’s agreement with QNA.
“VeriTainer has proven that its crane-based detection system works and we believe it accomplishes primary screening in the most accurate and efficient way since the lift period offers a long dwell time for the sensors to read the cargo container,” says Rob Topping, president and chief operating officer of QNA. “Combining VeriTainer’s technology with our ability to deliver solutions to port and homeland security customers is an important part of our strategy to employ innovative, best-in-class technologies, both from inside QinetiQ and from our partners.”
The VeriSpreader can serve as a “first line of defense” in primary screening applications, Topping tells TR2. He says the system can be easily integrated with port security networks worldwide.
VeriTainer’s Alioto says the company is already developing software to analyze the data gathered from VeriSpreader to alert for the presence of shielding materials.
Topping believes the market for the VeriSpreader is global, noting that a lot of ports want to be compliant with the U.S. SAFEPORT Act. He did say that the partners would like a “high degree of government acceptance.” At some point VeriSpreader will need to get SAFETY Act certification, he adds.
In the Port of Oakland tests various U.S. and international agencies and shipping companies observed the VeriSpreader trials, Alioto says. He believes that the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office will soon take a closer look at the technology, adding that the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration is also interested in the system.
Each VeriSpreader is equipped with gamma ray and neutron detectors and the system also does isotope identification.
As for maintenance issues, Alioto says that in the tests at Oakland VeriSpreader demonstrated that it can meet the requirements of typical spreader bars used to lift containers. The maintenance cycle for a typical spreader bar is about 17,500 lifts, he says. In the tests one VeriSpreader went through 20,000 lifts and another 10,000 lifts, all with no breakdowns, he says.
Alioto says that VeriTainer already has an agreement in place with Sweden’s Bromma Group, for the production of VeriSpreader.
“Within five years we could put VeriSpreader on any quay-side crane in the world,” he says.