Radiation detection equipment (RDE) will soon be installed at eight land crossing points along India’s borders with Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nepal to check trafficking of radioactive materials for possible use in making nuclear devices, officials said.
The RDE will be installed at the integrated check posts (ICP) and land ports of Attari (Pakistan border); Petrapole, Agartala, Dawki and Sutarkandi (all on the Bangladesh border); Raxaul and Jogbani (Nepal); and Moreh (Myanmar).
Work order for supply, installation and maintenance of the RDE at eight operational ICPs has been awarded by the government through an agreement executed last year and the vendor will supply and complete the installation process shortly, an official privy to the development said.
The Centre has taken the initiative to keep trafficking of radioactive materials across international borders in check. The eight ICPs witness a sizeable cross-border movement of people and goods. Smuggling of radioactive material could be a challenge for security agencies as it could be used for making nuclear devices or radiological dispersal devices, another official said.
The RDE will be installed in a drive-through monitoring station that scans trucks and their cargo. Though the movement of people and goods through the Attari ICP has come down drastically due to the current chill in relations with Pakistan, footfalls in other ICPs are significant.
The RDE is equipped with raising separate gamma and neutron radiation alarms and generating video frames of suspicious objects.
It will also have the ability to differentiate between special nuclear material and naturally occurring radiation in fertiliser or ceramics as well as high-energy gamma isotopes which are an attribute of recycled uranium. The government is believed to have taken technical help from a few foreign agencies, including those from the US, in installing the RDE.
