Nuclear Terror: No Entry

By Elaine Shannon

How concerned is the government that a terrorist could smuggle nuclear material into the U.S.? Concerned enough that the U.S. Customs Service is quietly installing new technology to better detect radiation at mail facilities, airports, seaports, rail yards and across the U.S. border. The new "radiation-portal-detection systems," costing $100,000 to $150,000 apiece, will supplement current technology, which consists of radiation "pagers" worn on the belts of customs personnel. Containers and vehicles will pass through the devices, which can pick up a wider variety of radioactive emissions than the pagers, from weapons-grade plutonium to medical waste that could be used as shrapnel in a "dirty bomb." And unlike the pagers, which only check containers singled out for inspection, the new portal devices will be routinely applied to all cargo, not just the high-risk kind. Customs is installing the devices at the exit gates of the nation's major seaports and at key traffic choke points, such as international bridges, tunnels, rail crossings and U.S. Postal and private parcel-shipping facilities. One prototype has already been deployed at a busy commercial crossing along the U.S.-Canadian border. More will follow--but to foil terrorists, Customs isn't advertising where or when. And no photos are permitted. --By Elaine Shannon