§921 — Title 6 Domestic Security | U.S. Code

Summary

As allowed by section 1318 of title 19, by December 31, 2007 the Secretary must scan for radiation every container entering the United States through the 22 ports that receive the most containers by ship. The Secretary must make a clear plan for where and when to put radiation detectors and nonintrusive imaging. The plan must rank ports by risk, give a timeline, say what equipment will be used, set standard procedures for checking containers and responding to alarms, include operator training, evaluate health and safety and create a radiation risk-reduction plan with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, OSHA, and NIOSH to keep exposure as low as reasonably achievable, explain how imaging and detectors will be used together, and include a classified annex for covert testing and port priorities. The Secretary, through the Director for Domestic Nuclear Detection and with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, must publish technical standards and recommended procedures for using imaging and radiation detectors. Those standards should consider other federal and international rules and must not endorse specific companies or cause sovereign conflicts. The full deployment plan must be completed within 3 years after October 13, 2006. After starting the scanning program and submitting the plan, the Secretary must expand it to other ports by assessing their risks and needed equipment. The Secretary must also create an Intermodal Rail Radiation Detection Test Center at a public port where most container cargo moves directly to or from on-dock intermodal rail, and run multiple projects there to test ideas for on-dock rail challenges.

Title 6, §921

Domestic Security — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Subject to section 1318 of title 19, not later than December 31, 2007, all containers entering the United States through the 22 ports through which the greatest volume of containers enter the United States by vessel shall be scanned for radiation. To the extent practicable, the Secretary shall deploy next generation radiation detection technology.

(b)The Secretary shall develop a strategy for the deployment of radiation detection capabilities that includes—

(1)a risk-based prioritization of ports of entry at which radiation detection equipment will be deployed;

(2)a proposed timeline of when radiation detection equipment will be deployed at each port of entry identified under paragraph (1);

(3)the type of equipment to be used at each port of entry identified under paragraph (1), including the joint deployment and utilization of radiation detection equipment and nonintrusive imaging equipment;

(4)standard operating procedures for examining containers with such equipment, including sensor alarming, networking, and communications and response protocols;

(5)operator training plans;

(6)an evaluation of the environmental health and safety impacts of nonintrusive imaging technology and a radiation risk reduction plan, in consultation with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, that seeks to minimize radiation exposure of workers and the public to levels as low as reasonably achievable;

(7)the policy of the Department for using nonintrusive imaging equipment in tandem with radiation detection equipment; and

(8)a classified annex that—

(A)details plans for covert testing; and

(B)outlines the risk-based prioritization of ports of entry identified under paragraph (1).

(c)The Secretary, acting through the Director for Domestic Nuclear Detection 11 See Change of Name note below. and in collaboration with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, shall publish technical capability standards and recommended standard operating procedures for the use of nonintrusive imaging and radiation detection equipment in the United States. Such standards and procedures—

(1)should take into account relevant standards and procedures utilized by other Federal departments or agencies as well as those developed by international bodies; and

(2)shall not be designed so as to endorse specific companies or create sovereignty conflicts with participating countries.

(d)Not later than 3 years after October 13, 2006, the Secretary shall fully implement the strategy developed under subsection (b).

(e)(1)As soon as practicable after—

(A)implementation of the program for the examination of containers for radiation at ports of entry described in subsection (a); and

(B)submission of the strategy developed under subsection (b),

(2)In expanding the strategy under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall identify and assess the risks to those other ports of entry in order to determine what equipment and practices will best mitigate the risks.

(f)(1)In accordance with subsection (b), and in order to comply with this section, the Secretary shall establish an Intermodal Rail Radiation Detection Test Center (referred to in this subsection as the “Test Center”).

(2)The Secretary shall conduct multiple, concurrent projects at the Test Center to rapidly identify and test concepts specific to the challenges posed by on-dock rail.

(3)The Test Center shall be located within a public port facility at which a majority of the containerized cargo is directly laden from (or unladen to) on-dock, intermodal rail.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2018—Subsecs. (c) to (e). Pub. L. 115–254, § 1816(b)(1), (2), redesignated subsecs. (f) to (h) as (c) to (e), respectively, and struck out former subsecs. (c) to (e). Prior to amendment, subsecs. (c) to (e) read as follows: “(c) Report.—Not later than 90 days after

October 13, 2006, the Secretary shall submit the strategy developed under subsection (b) to the appropriate congressional committees. “(d) Update.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the submission of the report under subsection (c), the Secretary shall provide a more complete evaluation under subsection (b)(6). “(e) Other weapons of mass destruction threats.—Not later than 180 days after

October 13, 2006, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on the feasibility of, and a strategy for, the development of equipment to detect and prevent shielded nuclear and radiological threat material and chemical, biological, and other weapons of mass destruction from entering the United States.” Subsec. (e)(1)(B). Pub. L. 115–254, § 1816(b)(3), struck out “(and updating, if any, of that strategy under subsection (c))” after “under subsection (b)”. Subsecs. (f) to (i). Pub. L. 115–254, § 1816(b)(2), redesignated subsecs. (f) to (i) as (c) to (f), respectively.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Change of Name

Reference to the Director for Domestic Nuclear Detection deemed to be a reference to the Assistant Secretary for the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office, see section 2(b)(1)(B) of Pub. L. 115–387, set out as a note under section 591 of this title.

§921 Domestic Radiation Detection and Imaging