New app helps customs officers improve radiation detection for nuclear security (French Edition)

Customs officers are used to the sound of radiation alarms. One third of cargo container shipments passing through the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port set off alarms on the sensitive radiation portal monitors intended to catch smuggled radiation sources and nuclear material. However, all the alerts since the device was installed in July 2016 have been caused by material such as tiles, fertilizers and construction materials. The port handles one quarter of the country's foreign trade. A new smartphone application launched by the IAEA will help to distinguish between alarms caused by harmless amounts of naturally occurring radiation and alarms that might be a cause for concern from a security standpoint and warrant further investigation. The app is the outcome of an IAEAcoordinated research project that aims to improve the assessment of initial alarms. Researchers from the IAEA and 20 countries have worked together to improve the alarm assessment process by developing tools and algorithms for the detection software, with the goal of enabling it to distinguish between radiation from potentially smuggled man-made sources and naturally occurring radiation.