Customs and Border Protection (CBP) late last month completed five days of testing of a crane-mounted radiation detection system developed and supplied by VeriTainer and now the company expects the Energy Departments National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to test the system as early as September using special nuclear materials, according to John Alioto, VeriTainer’s CEO.
The five days of testing using VeriTainer’s VeriSpreader took place at the Rail and Radiation Test Center at the Port of Tacoma in Washington and will be followed up by CBP with a report to Congress later this year, Alioto tells TR2. CBP previously did baseline testing of the VeriSpreader from May 30-31 at the Howard Terminal at the Port of Oakland, Calif.
For the Oakland tests CBP basically piggybacked on an ongoing test program that was being done by VeriTainer at the port over two phases, with the second running from April 2007 through May 2008 (TR2, June 25). In the May test CBP used “certain source” material with “certain shielding” materials, Alioto says.
CBP was “pleased” enough that they invited VeriTainer up to Tacoma, Alioto says.
Also at Oakland during VeriTainer’s tests, the NNSA in March did two days of testing. Alioto says based on the results of those tests NNSA was also “pleased” and has invited VeriTainer to bring the VeriSpreader out to Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) where the system will be used to see how it fares in detecting special nuclear materials.
Alioto is hopeful the LANL tests occur in September but the schedule is always contingent on a variety of factors that have nothing to do with the availability of the VeriSpreader. While it will be difficult to imitate the marine environment, which presents a dynamic range of challenges for a radiation detection system, LANL is the only place where the VeriSpreader will have an opportunity to test with highly enriched uranium and plutonium, Alioto says.
In the end, Alioto is hopeful that the NNSA testing using special nuclear materials is enough to satisfy others in the federal government, and maybe elsewhere, as to the capability of the VeriSpreader.