Design, construction, and use of a shipping case for radioactive sources used in the calibration of portal monitors in the radiation portal monitoring project

The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is working with US Customs and Border Protection to assist in the installation of radiation portal monitors. Our challenge was to provide radioactive sources—both gamma and neutron emitting, to a number of ports of entry where radiation portal monitors are being installed and calibrated. A portable shipping case has been designed such that it meets the DOT requirements for a “limited quantity” shipment. Over three hundred shipments, both domestic and international, were made in FY2008 using this type of shipping case.