Communications: electrical – Condition responsive indicating system – Specific condition
Reexamination Certificate
2003-01-31
2004-07-27
Trieu, Van (Department: 2636)
Communications: electrical
Condition responsive indicating system
Specific condition
C340S603000, C378S057000, C378S062000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06768421
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to the detection of fissile or radioactive material or to shielding material to conceal such fissile or radioactive material, and more particularly to a container crane having thereon one or more detectors to detect the presence of such fissile or radioactive or shielding materials.
2. Background of the Art
On Sep. 11, 2001, the United States was attacked by a terrorist network named al Qaeda. The al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners to launch a massive attack. The terrorists flew a hijacked airliner into each of the two towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and one into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., the military headquarters of our country. The efforts of courageous airline passengers and crew foiled the attempt to fly the fourth hijacked airliner into an additional target, most likely in the Washington, D.C. area, by causing it to crash into the Pennsylvania countryside. In all, over 3,000 people were killed on American soil on the morning of Sep. 11, 2001.
The September 11 attacks were a wake-up call for America. Americans suddenly realized that our free and open society was vulnerable to terrorist attack in many ways. Everywhere, Americans saw vulnerabilities, especially to “weapons of mass destruction” such as nuclear weapons. A nuclear weapon is a device, such as a bomb or warhead, whose great explosive power derives from the release of nuclear energy. Nuclear weapons include so-called “dirty bombs.” A dirty bomb is a conventional explosive device packed with radioactive material to spread radioactive contamination that causes sickness in human beings. Radiation sickness is illness induced by exposure to ionizing radiation, ranging in severity from nausea, vomiting, headache, and diarrhea to loss of hair and teeth, reduction in red and white blood cell counts, extensive hemorrhaging, sterility, and death.
Vulnerability to harm from nuclear weapons caused by terrorists requires that the nuclear weapon be delivered to and detonated in the target area. For example, a nuclear weapon can be delivered and detonated on American soil by bringing the weapon into the country by stealth. One way of bringing a nuclear weapon into the country by stealth is to hide it in one of the tens of thousands of shipping containers that are brought into the United States every day.
It is a purpose of this invention to prevent the transportation of nuclear weapons by stealth in shipping containers into and out of ports anywhere in the world, in general, and into and out of ports in the United States, in particular. It is also a purpose of this invention to prevent nuclear weapons from being imported into the United States by stealth in shipping containers that are (1) loaded in foreign ports; (2) transported to the United States by ships, including huge ocean-going container ships that carry upwards of 4,000 twenty-foot-equivalent (“TEUs”) shipping containers; and, (3) unloaded in, or brought into close proximity to, ports or population centers in the United States. Using this invention, terrorists can be prevented from attacking the United States, or any other nation or population, with nuclear weapons brought into proximity to population centers by stealth in a shipping container.
a. Detection Systems
It is known in the art of nuclear weapon detection technology that nuclear weapons which use uranium emit detectable gamma rays. Given the periodic table symbol “U,” uranium is a heavy silvery-white metallic element, radioactive and toxic, easily oxidized, and having 14 known isotopes of which U 238 is the most abundant in nature. The element occurs in several minerals, including uraninite and carnotite, from which it is extracted and processed for use. It has an atomic number 92; atomic weight 238.03; melting point 1,132° C.; boiling point 3,818° C.; specific gravity 18.95; valence 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Uranium is enriched in a process whereby the amount of one or more radioactive isotopes in the material is increased.
It is known in the art of nuclear weapon detection technology that nuclear weapons which use plutonium emit detectable gamma rays and detectable neutrons. Given the periodic table symbol “Pu,” plutonium is a naturally radioactive, silvery, metallic transuranic element, occurring in uranium ores and produced artificially by neutron bombardment of uranium. Its longest-lived isotope is Pu 244 with a half-life of 76 million years. It is a radiological poison, specifically absorbed by bone marrow, and is used, especially the highly fissionable isotope Pu 239, as a reactor fuel and in nuclear weapons. It has an atomic number 94; melting point 640° C.; boiling point 3,235° C.; specific gravity 19.84; valence 3, 4, 5, 6.
Since the 1911 work of Hans Geiger, it has been know that devices can detect the presence of ionizing radiation. Named the Geiger-Müller counter, an improved version of the device detects alpha particles, electrons and ionizing electromagnetic photons. Modernly, plastic scintillation is used to detect both gamma and neutron radiation. For example, Canberra Industries, Inc. of Meriden, Conn. (www.canberra.com) manufactures and markets monitors that use scintillation detectors designed for the radiological control of pedestrian vehicles, trucks and rail cars. There are other devices commercially available that can be used to detect radiation, including those that use both scintillating and non-scintillating materials. In this description and the appended claims, all of these devices will be referred to as “fissile or radioactive material detection device(s).”
It is known in the art of nuclear weapon detection technology that the presence of uranium or plutonium based nuclear weapons can be concealed by covering the weapon with radiation shielding material such as lead. Given the periodic table symbol “Pb,” lead is a soft, malleable, ductile, bluish-white, dense metallic element, extracted chiefly from galena and used in containers and pipes for corrosives, solder and type metal, bullets, radiation shielding, paints, and antiknock compounds. It has an atomic number 82; atomic weight 207.2; melting point 327.5° C.; boiling point 1,744° C.; specific gravity 11.35; valence 2, 4. A nuclear weapon could be placed in a shipping container and then covered with a layer of radiation shielding material, typically lead of one to two inches or more in thickness. In this way, the fissile or radioactive material detection device or devices of the shipping container crane of the present invention may not be capable of identifying the presence of the nuclear weapon. Thus, radiation shielding material can be used to deliver and detonate a nuclear weapon on American soil by bringing the weapon into the country by stealth in a shipping container.
Other shielding materials are also known in the art. For example, high density concrete is typically used to contain radioactive emission in structures. The thickness of high density concrete to shield a nuclear weapon placed in a shipping container could be in the same order of magnitude as the thickness of lead required in the above example.
There are two major limitations on the use of radiation shielding material to shield the radiation emanating from a nuclear device hidden in a shipping container: (1) the ability of an x-ray or other detection system to detect the presence of an amount of radiation shielding material necessary to shield the radiation emanating from the nuclear device; and, (2) the maximum amount of weight of the shipping container permitted by various state and federal regulations in the United States in order that the container be truly intermodal (the so-called “over-the-road” weight limitation). First, x-ray or other detection system inspection of shipping containers to attempt to discern the presence of radiation shielding material is well known in the art. For example, some of these inspection systems typically produce a transmission image by the measurement of the intensity distribution of the x-rays that tra
Alioto John I.
Alioto Matthew T.
Cascio A. T.
Trieu Van
VeriTainer Corporation
LandOfFree
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