Canberra has received a contract from Belgium Customs to deliver and install at the Port of Antwerp one the company’s Advanced Spectroscopic Portal (ASP) systems it is currently developing for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Terms of the contract weren’t disclosed although there is the possibility of further sales to Belgium Customs, Stephen Mettler, director of Canberra’s ASP program, tells TR2. The sale marks the first for Canberra’s ASP outside the U.S.
The system will be installed this year and will be sued for secondary screening of containers alongside an X-Ray-based system.
Canberra, which is a division of France’s AREVA Group, along with Raytheon [RTN] and Thermo Fisher Scientific [TMO] are each developing their respective ASP systems for DHS’ Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO). Each company has supplied a number of their systems to testing. Later this year DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff is expected to make a decision on certifying whether the ASPs demonstrate a cost benefit over existing radiation portal monitor (RPM) systems (TR2, Nov. 28, 2007).
In general, Mettler says the overseas market for radiation detection equipment appears robust. He says countries are concerned about security and non-proliferation and are willing to better secure their port operations. There are more deployments of the plastic scintillator-based RPMs and handheld detection equipment, a trend that is likely to continue, he says.
Regarding international interest in the ASP technology, which is expected to reduce the false alarm rates associated with current RPMs by better discriminating threat materials from non-threat materials, Mettler says other countries appear to be waiting to see what the U.S. does.
Canberra’s ASP technology is based on germanium crystal sensors, offering high resolution and a better ability to identify and discriminate materials of interest, Mettler says. Both Raytheon’s and Thermo Fisher’s ASPs are based on sodium iodide crystal technology. In addition to delivering portals for testing, Raytheon has also delivered radiation detection systems based in sport utility vehicles under its ASP contract with DNDO (TR2, Feb. 20).