Will ending the ASP program stifle demand for nuclear detection equipment?

IMS Research (recently acquired by IHS Inc.) forecasts Americas revenues for fixed radiation and nuclear detection equipment to spike in 2012 and 2013 on the back of installations of advanced spectroscopic portals (ASPs), used primarily as secondary screening devices. ASPs form part of a larger Identifiers market which is estimated to reach $142.7 million globally in 2012.

Report author and analyst at IMS Research Justin Siller comments, “As a pre-cursor to making sure radiological and nuclear materials do not fall into the wrong hands, monitoring the storage and transportation of atomic weapons has become a necessity. This is done through using large gantry portals and hand-held devices to inspect cars, trucks, ships and people in places such as border checkpoints, seaports, at sea, around critical infrastructure and at military bases.”

As a replacement for traditional detection portals, ASPs were originally developed for deployment as primary screening devices to detect and identify materials simultaneously. However, the program was terminated by the Obama administration in 2011 due to technical glitches and high false alarm rates. Despite the programs termination, ASPs are currently being used in combination with hand-held identifiers as secondary screening devices to alert operatives of when harmful materials are being transported.

Siller continues, “The U.S. requested $57 million for the procurement and deployment of radiation portal monitors and human portable radiation detection systems (HPRDS) for use by custom and border patrol and U.S. Coast Guard. The RPM program is expected to deploy 44 ASP systems and the HPRDS to fund the procurement of 340 next-generation radiation isotope identification devices (RIIDS).”

In its latest publication, The World Market for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives (CBRNE) Detection Equipment, IMS Research reviews the roles various equipment types are playing in the CBRNE market.

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