Radiation pager

Methods of interdicting nuclear materials to date have favored the use of large portal detectors at choke points, or hand carried instruments used by trained personnel for conducting spot searches. Although these methods are effective in some instances, it is often impractical to insert choke points at busy traffic areas, and it is not cost effective to maintain a force of skilled operators whose focus is nuclear interdiction. Recent technology developments are causing profound changes in the philosophy and methods employed for interdicting nuclear materials. Breakthrough advances in the miniaturization of detectors and low power electronics have made possible a new class of small gamma-ray radiation detectors, roughly the size of a message pager, with unprecedented sensitivity for their size. These instruments, named Radiation PagersTM, are ideally suited for use by untrained individual law enforcement personnel and emergency responders in the course of their regular duties. New tactics that utilize a radiation detector worn by every officer are creating a moving curtain of detection with a significantly higher likelihood of locating illicit nuclear contraband. These individual detectors also provide each officer with a high level of confidence that they are not being unknowingly irradiated in the course of their work. (author)