The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will get additional security equipment to help check cargo containers on ships, trucks and trains for nuclear materials.Federal officials announced Thursday the addition of 18 mobile radiation detectors at the ports. They are part of a group of 24 portable scanners that will be delivered by January to scan shipping containers as trucks leave the harbor, and will supplement 85 stationary radiation detectors that have been used at 14 port terminals since June 2005.Customs officers also will use small hand-held detectors on the docks and wharves to check cargo as it is unloaded from ships."The technology we have deployed enhances our critical mission of preventing terrorists or others from attempting to smuggle weapons of mass destruction through U.S. borders," said Customs and Border Protection Commissioner W. Ralph Basham.
But critics say the ports' stationary radiation detectors should be used to screen containers when they arrive at port terminals, not when they leave. The shipping industry worries scanning upon arrival would severely disrupt unloading operations.The federal General Accountability Office has faulted radiation detector devices saying they have difficulty reading the low levels of radioactivity emitted by nuclear weapons; and they cannot detect radioactive materials if they are well shielded.