Screenshot of ODSecurity's SOTER RS shows how
narcotics can be concealed within the body.
Kingdom by the Health Protection
Agency’s Radiation Protection
Division, prepared for and funded by
Braun & Company Ltd (being Adani’s
UK distributors, who actually supplied
the systems at Heathrow), in order to
put the dose an individual receives
from the Conpass LD Body scanner in
to perspective, a number of everyday
exposures to ionising radiation were
considered. The list below is in
terms of effective dose received by
an individual and compared to the
Conpass LD body scan dose, at 155 kV
and 0.6 mA.
Assuming 1 Conpass LD scan = approx-
imately 0.25 μSv
0.25 μSv = 30 minutes of exposure to
naturally occurring background radia-
tion in Cornwall in the UK or Denver,
Transmission X-ray that’s the technology required to identify Colorado in the USA = I Conpass LD scan
However much one can try and sell the internal carries.
concept, the idea of utilising through- In The Netherlands, ODSecurity’s 0.25 μSv = 4g of Brazil nuts ~ consump-
body (transmission) X-ray at the screen- SOTER RS has achieved global sales, tion of one Brazil nut = 1 Conpass LD scan
ing checkpoint is troublesome. We yet has struggled to penetrate the
have all been brought up with the aviation security market. Their systems 5 μSv single dental x-ray = 20 Conpass
idea that undergoing any unnecessary are to be found in airports in at least LD scans
medical X-ray is less than desirable, so seven countries, but always to screen
how can we expect the general public passengers after they have got off So, either we ought to ban Brazil nuts
to accept it as a solution for aviation an aircraft and usually because the or start deploying transmission X-ray
security purposes? passenger has given a Customs officer to screen the passengers we have real
The starting point ought to be a some cause for concern through their concerns about!
reality check and we need to remind appearance and behaviour.
ourselves that next time the terrorist’s In July 2009, trials took place at Explosive Trace Detection
modus operandi may be different. In ODSecurity’s facilities that clearly Portals
the same way that terrorists understand demonstrated that a complete It seems strange to many that the
the limitations of metal detection, they improvised explosive device could be industry has suddenly launched itself
will also appreciate that deploying a concealed internally and not, obviously, towards the mass purchase of whole
system that can only see beneath the be detected using a pat down search. body imaging systems when, for the
clothing leaves the possibility of internal The images make sobering viewing. past decade and a half, it has been
concealment as a viable option. And, as if to prove the point, only conducting trial after trial of explosive
Drug traffickers transport their one month later, it is thought that the trace detection portals.
illicit loads on aircraft every day by suicidal mission to assassinate a Saudi Syagen’s Guardian ETP, for example,
swallowing and packing their bodies prince was effected using an anally uses a harmless air shower to collect
to avoid detection, so why not the concealed device. minute particles from the human body
terrorist? Prison guards understand how Using a similar transmission X-ray- and clothing and then analyses them
prohibited items are infiltrated into gaols based technology, Belarus’ Adani has for the presence of a wide range of
and often have to resort to the kinds of four of its Conpass systems installed at explosives. Their portal can now identify
checks we never want to have to witness London Heathrow Airport, let alone at 17 high threat explosives, and the
within the commercial airline industry. mines and prisons elsewhere around target list is expandable, compared with
Yet governments around the world are the world. the five or six explosives the older
using transmission X-ray for Customs According to a Radiation Metrology “puffers” detected. This is a non-
clearance purposes, recognising that Report published in the United invasive approach to the screening of
16 Register now for FREE instant access to ASI online by visiting www.asi-mag.com February 2010 Aviationsecurityinternational
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