Optimizing Radioactive Contamination Screening at Community Reception Centers Report

If there is a radiological release, whether from an accident or from a terrorist act, local response agencies can set up community reception centers (CRCs) to screen the public for radioactive contamination. The National Urban Security Technology Laboratory (NUSTL) prepared the “Optimizing Radioactive Contamination Screening at Community Reception Centers Report” to provide emergency response organizations with technical guidance for deploying CRC radiation detection equipment to optimize screening efficiency.

The report provides specific recommendations based on the results of NUSTL’s measurements and calculations, including where to position the pedestrian radiation portal monitors used for sensitive whole-body screening and how and where to do prescreening with personal radiation detectors to avoid mistaken alarms and maximize CRC contamination screening throughput. The report includes an introduction to CRCs, describes CRC radiation detection equipment used by the New York City Fire Department, and describes the methods NUSTL used to determine how and where to best use the equipment. Appendices provide full details of NUSTL’s measurements and radiation transport calculations and a remote audible alarm accessory device to aid in screening people’s shoes.