Transportable Radiation Monitoring System (TRMS) Project

In collaboration with the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Transportation Security Administration, and the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO), an ORNL team successfully field tested radiation detection technologies as part of the Transportable Radiation Monitoring System (TRMS) Project. The objectives of this project are to: (1) design and deliver a transportable radiation monitoring system; (2) write the Concept of Operations (ConOps) that describe how to deploy and use the TRMS and how to respond to alarms; and (3) assess the performance of the TRMS under field conditions.

The performance of the TRMS is being assessed under two different field conditions. The first test was conducted on the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Reservation where individual shipping and receiving documents were used to validate the data detected by the radiation detectors. More than 42,000 vehicles were monitored in this first test. The second test was a field operational test (FOT) where TRMS was tested under “real-world” conditions.

Fig. 1. Daily Safey Briefing

This real-world field testing took place at the Interstate 95 Ladysmith Rest Areas, Caroline County, Virginia, from November 6 through November 15 (excluding Friday November 10 and weekends). Participation in this test was voluntary and 300 vehicles were monitored during the seven-day FOT. Much of the emphasis in the FOT was on response procedures carried out by the TRMS operators, in the event of an alarm detecting radioactive material, and the TRMS deployment was subjected to more than 10 “red-team” scenarios in which DNDO teams “tested” the TRMS system and operators with unannounced drills with vehicles carrying radioactive material.

Fig. 2. TRMS Set-up at Ladysmith Rest Area

The ORNL team is led by Pat Hu (Center for Transprotation Analysis Group) and consists of Pete Chiaro, Ayman Shourbaji, and Nathan Wood (Sensor Science and Technology Group), Russell Lee of Environmental Sciences Division, and Steve Lancaster of Lancaster Services Inc.

Fig. 3. Red-Team Test of the TRMS Operations and Response Protocols

Submitted by: Pat Hu, Center for Transportation Analysis Group Leader

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