The Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has recently awarded a contract to Detector Networks International L.L.C. to design and manufacture six straddle carriers that will have radiation detection capabilities.

Detector Networks International will design and system integrate six straddle carriers built by ISOLOADER that will have the ability to detect radiation on containers at major seaports around the world for NNSA's Megaports Initiative.

The modified straddlers will use sodium iodide detectors for initial radiation detection and high-purity germanium detectors, which are less susceptible to background interference than other systems, for isotope identification. With their tall legs, they can maneuver over and scan rows of cargo containers stacked up to four high.

The DNI team consists of Thermo-Fisher Scientific Inc., ORTEC, Geodetics and ISOLOADER.