Ctg Port to get radiation scanner soon

Chittagong Port, the key gateway to the country's economy, is set to introduce scanning of shipping containers for nuclear or radiological materials to strengthen the port's global supply chain security.
Under the new arrangement, 'radiation detection equipment' will thoroughly scan all the shipping containers, both incoming and outgoing, before allowing those to depart for global markets especially in the United States or entering the Bangladesh market.
The Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) is going to set up the 'radiation detection equipment' within the port area, the first-ever venture in the country to ensure radiation-free departure and arrival of goods.
Initial works have already begun to install the 'radiation detection equipment' inside the port with the fullest financial and technological support from the US government.
In physics, radiation describes any process in which energy emitted by one body travels through a medium or through space, ultimately to be absorbed by another body.
A three-member high-powered team of National Nuclear Security Administration (NASA) under the US Department of Energy reached Dhaka yesterday and met with Shipping Minister Dr Afsarul Amin at the Shipping Ministry.
CPA Chairman Commodore R U Ahmed, Project Director Aurun Kumar Bhattacharjee and representatives of US Embassy and other senior officials of the shipping ministry were present in the meeting.
The visiting US team will go to Chittagong tomorrow and carry out physical study to select a suitable site for the radiation testing zone in the Chittagong port.
“They (the US team) are expected to reach Chittagong port Tuesday and likely to stay three days to carry out the feasibility study,” the CPA chairman told the news agency over telephone last evening.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) regarding the `Radiation Detection Equipment project' was signed between the Bangladesh and US governments in November, 2008.