Posted on 01/27/2004 11:38:28 AM PST by John Jorsett
WASHINGTON – Sgt. Conrad Grayson, head of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department bomb and arson squad, was in his office recently when something troubling happened.
His hand-held radiation detector, designed to give a warning if a "dirty bomb" is detonated, came to life.
"It just went off," said Grayson.
His concern ebbed within minutes when he realized the detector sounded because someone present had just had an X-ray that left a residue of radiation.
As the use of radiation detectors spreads amid concerns about a possible terrorist attack with a radioactive dirty bomb, homeland security officials expect a growing number of false alarms to be triggered by a range of sources, from cancer treatments to cat litter.
"The detectors are so sensitive," said Dr. Sony Patador at Mercy Hospital in San Diego. "It is definitely going to happen more often. Clearly, this is an issue that needs to be raised."
San Diego Customs and Border Patrol agents say they have had several false alarms.
One woman who had radiation therapy for cancer treatments set off an alarm near the San Ysidro border crossing. She had to wait several hours before she was cleared to go on her way, officials said.
In recent months, Homeland Security officials have sent out thousands of small radiation-detection devices to officials in various cities. Large detection scanners have been deployed in high traffic areas and on bridges.
"This has prompted many unintended consequences, whether it's involving cancer patients or people undergoing radiation treatment," said a Department of Homeland Security official who would not be quoted by name. "People are going to have to get used to it."
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is urging patients to carry letters from their doctors about their radiation treatments in case they accidentally set off alarms, according to NRC spokesman David McIntyre.
"We are looking for the potential of this becoming more common," he said.
Recently, the commission detailed an incident in which a false alarm created havoc on the roads.
In March 2003, a bus traveling from New York to Atlantic City set off a radiation alarm in a tunnel.
When state police pulled over the bus, officials discovered that a passenger had received high doses of radioactive iodine earlier that day for a medical procedure.
Officials have cited everything from ceramic tiles to cat litter as sources of radioactivity – and possible false alarms.
In Westchester County, N.Y., two cups of cat litter caused 20 tons of garbage to be returned to Ohio.
It turned out that a cat being treated for thyroid tumors had used the litter. Border enforcement officials plan to install monitors in the cargo areas and terminals of the nation's air, land and seaports.
"For security reasons, (Customs) does not identify the numbers and specific locations of our radiation detection equipment," said Mike Milne, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security. "The goal is to ultimately screen 100 percent of high-risk cargo, conveyances and people crossing our borders."
So far, officials have deployed more than 8,000 radiation detectors, 300 isotope identifiers and 60 more-sophisticated radiation monitors across the country, according to Robert C. Bonner, commissioner of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection.
"A challenge will be our ability to differentiate between the numerous consumer goods such as cement, porcelain, potash and bananas that may give off radiation, as well as medical isotopes given to humans for detection and treatment of disease, and the attempt to smuggle," Jason Ahearn, an assistant commissioner for Customs, told Congress in 2002.
The concern is not so much a nuclear device, but material for a dirty bomb, which would disperse radioactive material through the detonation of conventional explosives.
Officials such as San Diego's Grayson already have received personal radiation detectors – a gamma ray detector for locating radioactive or nuclear-related material.
Since September, every customs inspector at the borders has received a pager-sized personal radiation detector. Despite the potential for false alarms, Grayson likes the idea of having the detectors.
"This is a way of ensuring officer safety," Grayson said. "Any health practitioner is just a phone call away."
I expect a growing number of excited hard-ons from the 15,000 post thread/Northeast Stupidity Network Fan Crowd, too.
It turned out that a cat being treated for thyroid tumors had used the litter.
Now that's a dirty bomb.
BWAHAHAHA!
BS, x-rays do not activate materials. Probably a radioisotope was used in a procedure.
What else may set them off? "No Salt" potassium chloride dietary salts. Brazil nuts. Certain types of ceramic glazes. Green decorative glass.
...as demonstrated by the fact that neither the reporter who wrote this piece - nor the official holding the monitor - knew that X-rays don't leave "residual radiation". Probably two of the same crowd who object to irradiated meat...
Giving geiger counters (ionization detectors) to these people will be like giving typewriters to ten thousand chimpanzees in the hopes that they will write a sonnet.
Of course the cities near nuclear power plants already have the required equipment in place to monitor radiation in the unlikely event of a release.
Did anybody think to ask them how to do this stuff properly? No, I didn't thinks so...
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