DIY nuke detector patrolling San Francisco Bay
By Darren Murph 
posted Aug 24th 2006 12:55PM
posted Aug 24th 2006 12:55PM
While being in the weapons distribution biz may seem a bit dodgy, an enterprising team in San Francisco is looking to prove their device is out to protect and serve (and save a lot of money). The Department of Homeland Security is looking to add safeguards to American ports by installing a series of radiation scanners designed to detect hidden nukes (and, we hope, dirty bombs) on incoming shipments. The problem is the $1.15 billion this project is supposed to cost, not to mention the five years it'll take to get it installed, so we're still pretty much exposed for awhile. Not one to take a (potential) threat lying down, physicist / Sandia Lab weapons subcontractor Stanley Glaros is manning a team which has already built a "boat-mounted radiation detection device from off-the-shelf components." The homebrew rad sniffer gives a visual alarm via a "sodium iodide crystal" that turns blue when danger is near (remember Frodo's sword?), but the mechanics behind the lighthearted signifier is no laughing matter. An Ortec Digibase photo-multiplier picks up signals over the air, which are collected into dynodes, and then run through a multichannel analyzer to identify radiological signatures. Regardless of the means, this nuke detector has been running "successfully" for eight months, and coming in at a cool $12,000 apiece, we're all for getting the job done on the cheap (and showing up the DHS in the process).
"radiological alarm! Sir, they've got nukes on board."
and what will they do when they detect the nukes? tell the ship to just turn around? i dont think theyd do that
But will a container of bananas set it off and make it useless?
What about smoke alarms?
"But will a container of bananas set it off and make it useless?"
The point of a multi-channel anylizer is to view a spectrum of energy patterns in the radiation. Each type of radiation has a unique energy signature that can be identified. NaI detectors don't have the best resolution and may not be able to differentiate between some similar signatures so the detector would most likely only alert the crew to further investigate with higher resolution equipment. They would know what could be confused with potassium with thier equipment. Those operating the equipment are usually very well trained and would anticipate such occurances.
I am suspicious as to how far they can actually detect radiation since distance is one of the largest factors in preventing exposure.
Oh noes! Nuclear bomb-carrying ORCS are near!
Quick! to Isengaurd!
It sounds promising. Perhaps they should try detecting such materials while the ship is still a few miles out to sea, rather than within U.S. Waters or within San Francisco Bay.
So, a nuke gives off radiation just sitting around, (regardless of the casing?) Anyway, does this detector pick up the radiation through the hull? or would CG have to board every ship in the bay?
Also, the non-tactical boarding of ships with nukes on them is a no win situation it would probably be to close to blow up or sink - also, the initial boarding crew probably would not make it back out.
Please explain.
this country seems to be spending millions on unneeded "national security". seriously there are literally MILLIONS of ways to get bombs to the united states. NSA should be done away with. wtf has the country turned into. this is exacly what the terrorists want. FEAR. November cant come sooner.
The idea is not that we would destroy the boat coming in or sink it; rather, the idea is that any weapons grade nuclear material coming into our ports on a ship is likely illegal cargo on a legitimate ship. We would send in whomever you send in (Marines, Special Forces or whoever the fuck does that kinda shit) to lock down the material. It's not like the Soviets are sending in secret cargo ships with missiles on them - the only thing likely to be shady about the ship is that piece of cargo.
I realize I used a ton of vulgar language in that last post. My apologies there.
It took a while for me to catch that it was not about a nude detector...