The National Nuclear Security Administration’s airborne, radiation-sniffing Nuclear Emergency Support Team was to begin the first of four days of background sampling over Los Angeles on Wednesday ahead of the Ninth Summit of the Americas, the agency said.
Ahead of the meeting of government, industry and community representatives from each American continent, a low-flying National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) helicopter trimmed in the traditional blue and silver was to fly a grid pattern at about 80 miles per hour, ground speed, measuring the city’s levels of background radiation.
Flights were scheduled for June 1-4, weather permitting, the NNSA wrote in a press release.
The Aerial Measuring System components of the NNSA’s Nuclear Emergency Support Team routinely makes maps of an area’s background radiation ahead of mass gatherings including major sporting events or holidays. Assessing background levels ahead of an event makes it easier to detect radiological dispersal devices — dirty bombs that spread radioactive particles using conventional explosives — that bad actors might try to detonate in a crowd.
Earlier this year, the NNSA said it would replace the aging Bell helicopters that make up the rotary portion of the Aerial Measuring System with a pair of new Leonardo AW139 helicopters. The NNSA in 2019 replaced the fixed-wing component of the Aerial Measuring System with a pair of new King Air 350ERs.
