[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 193 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 193

 To direct the Secretary of Energy to carry out a program to evaluate 
and demonstrate the operation of radiation detection systems for use at 
                     seaports in the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 17, 2003

 Ms. Landrieu introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To direct the Secretary of Energy to carry out a program to evaluate 
and demonstrate the operation of radiation detection systems for use at 
                     seaports in the United States.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Radiation Detection for Dirty Bomb 
Material in Containers and Bulk Cargo Act of 2003''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) the possibility of a terrorist group using a dirty bomb 
        as a weapon against the United States is 1 of the greatest 
        threats to national security;
            (2) it is not difficult to transport dirty bomb material 
        and conventional explosives into the United States in a sea 
        freight container or bulk material cargo;
            (3) because of the threat of dirty bombs to national 
        security and the limitations of the current radiation detection 
        system with respect to detecting dirty bombs, the Secretary of 
        Energy should carry out a program to demonstrate the operation 
        of a large-scale radiation detection system that uses advanced 
        scanning technologies to enable more sea freight containers and 
        bulk material cargo to be inspected at seaports and places of 
        entry by land;
            (4) in selecting a system for demonstration, the Secretary 
        should give priority to existing radiation detection 
        technologies that--
                    (A) have proven to be effective nationally and 
                internationally;
                    (B) may be quickly implemented; and
                    (C) are capable of detecting radioactive sources in 
                sea freight containers and bulk material cargo to a 
                reasonable depth;
            (5) the selected system should--
                    (A) screen sea freight containers and bulk material 
                cargo without, to the maximum extent practicable, 
                inhibiting the flow of commerce at seaports and places 
                of entry by land;
                    (B) operate at a level capable of detecting a 
                heavily shielded, concealed, radioactive source; and
                    (C) have the capability of distinguishing between--
                            (i) a nonthreatening radioactive source; 
                        and
                            (ii) a radioactive source that is being 
                        used, or capable of being used, as a dirty 
                        bomb;
            (6) any information that is obtained during the scanning of 
        sea freight containers and bulk material cargo should be 
        maintained in a central data collection system to be archived 
        in real-time and made available to the appropriate Federal, 
        State, and local agencies for use in tracking and analyzing 
        trends and alarm conditions and operating radiation detection 
        systems;
            (7) pilot projects for monitoring sea freight containers 
        and bulk material cargo that are carried out under this Act 
        should incorporate information obtained from all other national 
        and international projects pertaining to inspection of sea 
        containers and cargo shipped across places of entry by land; 
        and
            (8) in developing the final procedures and protocols for 
        monitoring sea freight containers and bulk material cargo for 
        radiation, the Secretary should ensure that the procedures and 
        protocols--
                    (A) address situations that seaport and land 
                authorities may confront during the scanning of 
                incoming cargoes; and
                    (B) provide the seaport and land authorities with 
                the necessary guidance to adequately respond to the 
                situations.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Program.--The term ``program'' means the radiation 
        detection system demonstration program carried out under 
        section 4.
            (2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Energy.
            (3) System.--The term ``system'' means a radiation 
        detection system.

SEC. 4. RADIATION DETECTION SYSTEM DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary shall carry out a program to--
            (1) maintain and expand ongoing seaport and land radiation 
        detection system projects;
            (2) use existing laboratory relationships and expertise in 
        large-scale radiation monitoring systems;
            (3) evaluate radiation detection systems for use at 
        seaports and places of entry by land in the United States; and
            (4) select at least 1 system for demonstration at a seaport 
        and 1 system for demonstration at a place of entry by land.
    (b) Evaluation of Systems.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary shall conduct an evaluation 
        of existing state-of-the-art systems that provide the highest 
        degree of detection capability for radioactive sources that may 
        be hidden in sea freight containers or cargo crossing land 
        borders.
            (2) Technology.--The Secretary shall emphasize the rapid 
        development of existing technology and systems on completion of 
        the evaluation.
    (c) Selection of System for Demonstration.--
            (1) In general.--A system selected by the Secretary--
                    (A) may include hardware components such as 
                detectors, instrumentation, and communication hardware; 
                and
                    (B) shall include--
                            (i) integration of the hardware;
                            (ii) reporting procedures and protocols; 
                        and
                            (iii) coordination for decisionmaking, 
                        databases, and related software developments.
            (2) Proximity to material.--In selecting a system for 
        demonstration, the Secretary shall--
                    (A) take into consideration that it is critical 
                that the system be located as close as possible to the 
                material to be scanned; and
                    (B) select a system that allows for close 
                proximity.
            (3) Technology field operational time.--The Secretary shall 
        select for demonstration a system that uses a technology that 
        has proven field operational time.
    (d) Demonstration.--
            (1) Use of knowledge gained from previous study.--In the 
        demonstration phase of the program, the Secretary shall--
                    (A) incorporate knowledge gained from the study 
                conducted at Port of New Orleans before the date of 
                enactment of this Act; and
                    (B) expand on that knowledge to account for 
                material shipped in containers.
            (2) Duration.--The demonstration phase of the program shall 
        be completed not later than 2 years after the date on which 
        funding is made available for the program.
            (3) Future Needs.--As part of the demonstration phase, the 
        Secretary shall--
                    (A) identify needs for future research and 
                improvement for continued development of emerging 
                systems; and
                    (B) make Federal, State, and local agencies with 
                responsibilities relating to seaport and land 
                authorities aware of those needs.
    (e) Requirements.--
            (1) Data.--Regardless of the operational condition of a 
        system, all data detected by the system shall be collected, 
        displayed, and archived.
            (2) Durability.--A system shall be capable of withstanding 
        critical acceleration caused by severe impacts and rough 
        handling, that are attendant to the monitoring of containers 
        and bulk material being unloaded from a ship.
            (3) Radiation detected.--A system shall be capable of 
        detecting gammas and neutrons emitted by isotopes that could be 
        used to construct a dirty bomb, including cobalt-60, cesium-
        137, iridium-192, iodine-131, and americium-241/beryllium.
            (4) System operation.--The operation of a system shall be 
        fully automatic.
            (5) Detection time.--A system shall be capable of detecting 
        radiation in a container that will not significantly inhibit 
        the flow of commerce.
            (6) Background.--A system shall be sensitive to 
        fluctuations in background levels.

SEC. 5. PROCEDURES AND PROTOCOLS FOR DETECTION AND REPORTING.

    In connection with the program, the Secretary shall develop 
standard procedures and protocols for detection and reporting of data 
collected from radiation collection systems to allow synchronization of 
technical approaches to detection and harmonize coordination efforts 
among agencies.

SEC. 6. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary shall develop a national technical 
assistance program to share and propagate the experiences gained in 
conducting the program.
    (b) Stakeholders.--In carrying out subsection (a), the Secretary 
shall solicit the views of stakeholders (including members of the 
National Maritime Security Advisory Committee, local port authorities, 
the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors, Inc., and the 
Health Physics Society) to encourage the greatest level of 
participation in the development of a national program of radiation 
detection systems.

SEC. 7. INTERNSHIPS.

    In connection with the program, the Secretary shall provide student 
internships to universities in States with significant seaports that 
focus on academic programs pertaining to radiation detection and 
radiation health physics.

SEC. 8. REPORT.

    At the conclusion of the program, the Secretary shall submit to 
Congress a report that describes the results of the program.

SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated for each of fiscal years 
2004 through 2007 such sums as are necessary to carry out this Act.
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