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ARA technology distinguishes
between legitimate and potentially threatening sources of
radioactivity
Part of the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security’s strategy in guarding against a terrorist attack involving
smuggled nuclear devices and radiological materials is the ability
to scan for radiation emanating from trucks and other vehicles. DHS
has deployed hundreds of Radiation Portal Monitors, or RPMs,
nationwide at seaports, northern and southern border ports of entry
and crossings, international airports, etc. in an effort to screen
incoming vehicles, goods and people for radiation. The problem is
now how to reduce the number of false alarms caused by natural
and/or legitimate sources of radiation and keep traffic (and trade)
flowing.
The RPMs
detect radiation from various types of nuclear devices, dirty bombs,
special nuclear materials, natural sources and isotopes commonly
used in medicine and industry. They also detect the radiation that
normally occurs in, for example, ceramic tiles, fertilizer, coffee,
bananas, or a person who has recently had a medical procedure using
radioactive tracers. This results in false alarms that can cause
expensive and time-consuming delays at security checkpoints.
 ARA recently received a $2.8 million DHS
contract to improve these monitoring systems and help eliminate
security checkpoint delays. This rapid prototype and delivery effort
involves adapting ARA’s RadSentinel™ family of radiation sensors,
which have achieved unprecedented sensitivity and low false-alarm
rates, for installation in existing commercial RPMs made by Canberra
Industries.
The RPMs will be modified to accept
ARA’s spectroscopic gamma-ray subsystem — which is precise enough to
distinguish a radiation patient from a would-be bomber. Dr. Rollin
Evans of the company’s Southwest Division developed the system’s
algorithms, which enable extremely sensitive detection of sources
with a low false-alarm rate and identifies these sources through
analysis of the gamma spectra. This multi-detector NaI subsystem,
along with the necessary computer and software, will replace the
plastic scintillator in each RPM panel.
The supervisory subsystem for the portal
monitor (developed by Joe Madrigal and Ed Kaltenbach) receives data
from the detector computers and displays the information for
operators to understand. The
displays row of colored lights, immediately tells the operator
whether a detection is a threat. If a vehicle is transporting a
radioactive material that emits gamma rays, the graphical user
interface (GUI) shows which detector panels sensed the gamma source
and identifies the radioactive material (eg, Cs-137). Many other
parameters are displayed, such as vehicle speed, the gamma-ray
spectrum of a radiation event, and an electronic image of the
offending vehicle.
The team: Randy Jones
(Office of the Chairman and Program PI), Gary Smith (Shock Physics
Division), Rick Chiffelle, Rollin Evans, Ed Kaltenbach and Joe Madrigal (SWD), and
Fred Wikner (Office of the Chairman) are working with Canberra in
development, manufacturing and testing. Prototypes are currently
being designed and assembled with official testing to take place
July – October at DHS test sites. Most of the work will be done at
the company’s offices in Albuquerque, as well as at test sites on
nearby Kirtland Air Force Base and at the Nevada Test Site (NTS).
ARA
delivers the first commercial spectroscopic portal monitor
An early version of this spectroscopic
portal monitor was delivered to The National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST) in April of this year. As part of a $2.7M
contract from DHS/DNDO, ARA is delivering this radiation monitor
prototype to the Nevada Test Site in early August for certification
testing. ARA is a leading contractor for DNDO in developing
extremely sensitive radiation detectors that can identify
radioactive material in real time using gamma spectroscopy.
 Update
ARA recently delivered and installed a
portal monitor to NTS for official DHS testing. The performance of
this prototype, as seen in the photo, will be evaluated during the
next few months. The results of the evaluation will be used to
select contractors for the production phase of the ASP program. A
draft RFP appeared on 5 August that explains that thousands of these
spectroscopic monitors will be purchased by the DHS over the next
several years. ARA is clearly a top competitor for one of the
awards, which could eventually be valued at over $100M.
Learn more about ARA's
MobileRad©
program.
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