As seen in May 2008 GIT Security and Management and online at GSN Magazine

The 2007 Labour Party Conference, held in Bournemouth, Dorset (UK), attracted more than 12,000 participants. Responsible for the meeting’s security, the Dorset Police were faced with their largest ever security operation. The event required a flexible but dependable system that could provide precise radiological detection in real time at multiple sites throughout the venue. Equally important was that every detector be connected into a central hub where radiation warnings could be immediately assessed and located.

The Thermo Scientitic ViewPoint Enterprise system had the capability to tie together all of the remote sensors via a robust, open and scalable IT architecture, and route the input to a command center where it centrally processed and analyzed all instrument and detector information.  Detection appliances were used to equip a Thermo Scientific survey vehicle for a remote vehicle search site (RVSS) to screen vehicles entering the conference and provide wide area radiological background trending. The survey vehicle, outfitted with gamma and neutron probes, an ADR air concentrator detector, a GID spectroscopy personal radiation detector (SPRD) and a RadEye PRD, also drove predetermined routes twice daily monitoring radiation levels and comparing them with previous background radiation surveys.

The centralized communication network allowed the real time transmission of data to be sent to both the Dorset Police Winfrith Headquarters and to the RVSS via the ViewPoint system. The system, operated with Windows NT/2000/XP, not only produced real time dose readings but also GPS data that enabled police officers and Thermo Fisher personnel to specify the exact location of a radiological event.

"The ViewPoint system was easy to use and provided a high degree of confidence," said Charlie Eggar, superintendent of the Dorset Police force. "The Thermo Fisher Scientific team fitted in very well with the CBRN operation and had the expertise to keep the systems working reliably."

The Thermo Scientific detection system is useful for other applications where radiation threats must be instantly assessed and located to protect the major assets of critical sites: hospitals, nuclear power plants, industrial plants, governmental properties and other large facilities involving multiple access points or thousands of visitors and on-site personnel.  For more details, view the Solutions homepage.