Today, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) Director Warren Stern met with representatives of the European Commission Joint Research Center (JRC) to discuss the progress of the Illicit Trafficking Radiation Assessment Program+10 (ITRAP+10).  This joint program is designed to evaluate the performance of available radiation detection equipment in an effort to combat the threat of illicit radiological and nuclear weapons and materials.

Through ITRAP+10, the United States and international partners work to ensure that testing standards are clearly defined, comprehensive and realistic in order to provide decision makers and private sector stakeholders with reliable detection system performance information as well as possible methods to enhance equipment performance. To date, 27 manufacturers from 11 different countries have offered nearly 100 instruments for participation in the ITRAP+10 tests.

Today’s meeting finalized testing procedures, including the selection of evaluation criteria that incorporates both national and international standards.  In a series of performance tests over the next year, the JRC will evaluate eight categories of equipment at their facility in Italy while DNDO will test nine categories of equipment in the US at the Department of Energy’s National Laboratory sites.

DHS is responsible for developing the US nuclear detection architecture and advancing the nation’s nuclear forensics capability. Other U.S. national partners supporting the ITRAP+10 are the National Institute for Science and Technology (NIST), the Department of Energy, and the International Atomic Energy Agency.  DHS and the JRC have also partnered on issues such as nuclear detection technologies, nuclear forensics, and detection architectures.