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6.08.12
Performance of radiation monitors was tested at Sakhalin seaport by US experts
Engineers from US national laboratories, New Mexico, have tested new radiation monitoring systems recently arrived to Sakhalin Customs, reported the press service of Sakhalin Customs on Monday
Two radiation monitoring systems are installed at Korsakov Seaport: one in the southern harbor and the other one in the northern, the report says.
This equipment is supplied under the joint Russian-American program “Second Line of Defense”.
The successfully tested Yantar-1Zh systems are required for radiation monitoring of railway cars. At Korsakov seaport, this concerns primarily sea containers and cargo, which are carried further by railroad.
“Thus, the whole container flow from Korsakov seaport shall be controlled by Yantar systems”, the press service cites the words of FCS RF Customs Control Representative Vladimir Klyuchkin.
He notes that Second Line of Defense is one the most efficient joint Russian-American projects. Within the frames of this project domestic equipment is installed. The price of one system exceeds 30 thousand dollars, which are borne by the US side.
All systems are supplied by Scientific Production Center “ASPECT” (Dubna), which also provides technical maintenance of the monitors.
Korsakov seaport, the southernmost near-border seaport of Sakhalin, was earlier equipped with fixed-site vehicle and pedestrian radiation monitors only, whereas railway cargoes were checked with portable dosimeters.
“Now, appearance of fixed-site railway systems will fully replace manual labor with automation of transport flow”, the press service notes.
The US side approached testing from a critical standpoint; the systems had been checked for several hours. Russian equipment passed the test to the satisfaction of US experts.
They also approved performance of five functioning fixed-site radiation monitors at Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk airport (four at pedestrian checkpoints and one at the airport entry).
On Tuesday US experts will move to Chukotka where they’ll also conduct testing of Yantar systems.
As reported by the press-service, Federal Customs Service is planning to integrate Yantar systems into the single information network in the near future with online information about alarming objects transmitted to the FCS Headquarters in Moscow.
The Russian-American program “Second Line of Defense” has been operating since 1998 and will come to a close in 2013. This program is a part of intergovernmental cooperation between the United States of America and Russian Federation in the field of accounting, monitoring and protection of nuclear materials. The US Department of Energy and FCS of Russia signed cooperation agreement in this field in 1998.
Within the frames of the program, owing to US funding, there have been installed about 200 Yantar radiation monitors in the Far East only, including Sakhalin checkpoints at Kholmsk and Korsakov seaports and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk airport.
The Yantar radiation monitor automatically estimates radiation background and compares it with radiation profile of the monitored object. Sensitivity of the monitor is rather high and it detects even slight variations of radiation level relative to the natural background.
Source: http://www.tks.ru |
