The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Tuesday it has completed deployment of 27 radiation detection systems across Bulgaria, thereby completing the nation’s nuclear detection architecture.
These efforts, conducted through the NNSA’s Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence (NSDD) program, are intended to help prevent the smuggling of radioactive materials.
Anne Harrington, NNSA deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation, said the nuclear detection architecture will help Bulgaria deter and detect trafficking of illicit nuclear and radioactive materials through its ports of entry. “This represents a significant step in our governments’ joint efforts to keep dangerous materials out of the hands of smugglers and terrorists,” she said in a press release.
The NNSA and Bulgaria’s Ministry of Interior/Chief Directorate of Border Police have deployed fixed and mobile radiation detection systems at Bulgarian borders and international airports since 2008, offering more than 3,000 front-line officers training to operate the technology, according to the release.
The NNSA said in a statement that the equipment installation took eight years and that the U.S. invested a total of $35 million for installation, training, maintenance, and related technical support. The agency added that given Bulgaria’s strategic location at the nexus of smuggling pathways, its operation of detection systems internally and at its borders are key to regional security.
NSDD activities are intended to interdict weapon-usable nuclear and radioactive materials at points of entry worldwide. Thousands of fixed, mobile, and hand-held devices have been installed across the globe, completing radiation detection systems in countries such as Estonia, Russia, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan.
This technology, deployed in regions that have experienced multiple nuclear smuggling attempts in recent years, has helped prevent such efforts in Georgia and Moldova, for example. The Black Sea region has been a transit corridor of note; earlier this year, six men were arrested in Georgia for attempting to sell uranium, while in January another three were arrested for selling cesium-137, a radioactive isotope.
The NSDD program under the fiscal 2016 budget is allotted $142.5 million; NNSA requested $145 million for the program in fiscal 2017 to expand nuclear forensics cooperative activities. The agency through Dec. 9 is operating under a short-term budget continuing resolution that freezes funding levels at fiscal 2016 levels.
