By Calvin Biesecker
QinetiQ North America (QNA) said yesterday it has partnered with VeriTainer Corp., a small research and development firm that has developed and tested a radiation detection system that can be mounted on dockside cranes that load and unload shipping containers, to offer the radiation detection system to customers in the United States and elsewhere.
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, told Defense Daily.
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 said.
Moreover, VeriTainer believes that their solution is the only one that can meet congressional mandates for 100 percent radiation screening of all shipping containers entering the United States via seaports. That’s because VeriSpreader would also screen intermodal cargo, that 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 and sell VeriSpreader as well as continue further development, Alioto said. 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 said in a statement. “In QinetiQ, we have the partner that can help us deliver integrated solutions worldwide.”
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 scanning in the most accurate and efficient way since the lift period offers a long dwell time for the sensors to read the cargo container,” Rob Topping, president and chief operating officer of QNA, said in a statement. “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.”
Each VeriSpreader is equipped with gamma ray and neutron detectors and the system also does isotope identification.
QNA is the U.S.-based division of Britain’s QinetiQ.