Nuclear security

Human Radiation Detectors Now In Service

The problem with nuclear radiation is that by the time you can detect it, it’s usually too late. By the time seismographs, infrasound sensors, and radiation readers pick up on a blast, it’s already happened. Catching a nuclear weapon before it goes off is a lot trickier. Tricky, but not impossible.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently announced a program to develop wearable technologies, similar to smartwatches, that can detect nuclear bomb threats and other radioactive material. This means, basically, that people will become human radiation detectors.

The project has been in the works for a while; the DHS posted the first notice of the contract in June 2014. The original solicitation called for a system “capable of detecting and identifying radiation/nuclear threats, storing the identification results, and communicating those results in real-time (wired and/or wireless)” to ReachBack, a chemical and radiation threat analysis center. In September, the DHS awarded the $24 million contract to FLIR Detection. They are calling it the “Human Portable Tripwire” (HPT).