DHS testing portable nuclear radiation sensor

DHS is testing portable nuclear detectors as part of an effort to offer more information to state and local purchasing agencies. The Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO), a division of DHS working to counter nuclear threats, will test detection devices, paying particular attention to effective ranges and their ability to identify specific nuclear materials, including highly enriched uranium and plutonium. Some nuclear security experts doubt the efficacy of such sniffing. Peter Stockton, a former Department of Energy (DoE) official who now works for the Project on Government Oversight, says that bomb-grade materials generally do not emit a lot of radiation that could be detected by passive sensors. “They’re not emitters — essentially you could have the stuff in your pocket,” Stockton told CQ. “You can certainly shield it with lead and anything else you’d like to shield it with, but you really don’t need to shield it a hell of a lot.”

Stockton worries about terrorists stealing nuclear material from a weapons facility. “If the [highly enriched uranium] or plutonium gets off site the chances of finding it are basically zero,” Stockton said. “In a major city there’s so much background radiation your chances of finding it are [very slim].” Even the crudest shielding could make detection more difficult. In the case of highly enriched uranium, “most of the radiation is in the form of alpha particles, which won’t even get through a sheet of paper,” said Ivan Oelrich, vice president of strategic security at the Federation of American Scientists.

-read more in Benton Ives-Halperin’s CQ report (sub. req.)