Japan, U.S. agree to introduce nuke cargo screening at Yokohama port

Monday 30th June, 06:41 AM JST

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13 Comments

PepinGalarga at 07:45 AM JST - 30th June

they weren't doing that already????? owwwwwwwwww.
urufuls at 08:01 AM JST - 30th June

Possibly something to help out with the concerns raised after announcing that N. Korea will be taken off of the terrorist list?
some14some at 08:02 AM JST - 30th June

to screen U.S.-bound cargo for radioactive materials to help block nuclear terrorist attacks on the United States

Wonder if terrorists need radioactive materials, for them only Radio or Robot with cheaper material may be good enough for the purpose.
DoctorTofu at 08:13 AM JST - 30th June

More of the insane security theater... Seriously, how many terrorist have access to nuclear weapons compared to traditional explosives? Still, a terrorist with a nuclear warhead sound much scarier than one with a couple of stick of dynamite... Next in line - screening program to detect invisible death rays the terrorists stole from space aliens.
Nippon5 at 08:27 AM JST - 30th June

If you consider that when the soviet union fell they lost many nuclear weapons and weapon grade plutonium its not hard to figure out someone could make a dirty bomb. Doctor Tofu, you should research how easy it is to get radiactive material (like the stuff that was thrown into a river here in Japan) and how easy it is to make a dirty bomb. No where in the story did it make any claims of looking for a warhead. If a dirty bomb was set off high above shibuya during rush hour the death toll would be huge , much more then any simple explosive.
nutsagain at 09:09 AM JST - 30th June

DoctorTofu: Gee, already 9:00 am and you're still asleep dreaming? Get serious; EVERY terrorist actively seeks nuclear weapons and now that that genie is out of the bottle, there's no putting it back. It's just-a-matter-of-time unfortunately. Now you can go back to sleep...
Coligny at 09:55 AM JST - 30th June

Nippon5... Nutsagain... Just read something else than JT for your culture (Things a little dry to read like Strategic Security Blog or Proceeding of the USNI). You'd learn from people in the field. Not your usual journalist "I has a deadline nothing to say and a mortgage".

And you'd know that dirty bombs are frontpage weapons, meaning, they will make they news for month if they are used. But on the field, few will be contaminated and even less killed. For some it might result in shortened lifespan but not worse than if they smoke too much. So it's first highly unprobable and second not efficient as a -tactical- weapon. So we fall in the usual category, it's a good weapon only to scare, meaning governement might need them more than the terurist to control the population.

"Let us strip you nakkid at the airport in case you has a dirty bomb on you, WOULD YOU THINK OF THEM CHILDREN !" "If you don't let us do, you support terurist" And the traditionnal bullcr@p spoonfed to everybody since OMG911!!!!

For gas attack, remember that the Aum attack in an ideal environment (closed underground tunnel) spread chaos... but not so much death.

And for how easy it is to get nukular material, sure it is... luxury swiss watch contain tritium that can be used -according to Tom Clancy- to improve detonation in nuke... Shall we kill the Swiss over this, stop importing their watch ? If you want to be part of the security Theatre, people that fight to be in the spotlight pushing colorfull and totally pointless ideas in the name of nationnal security, then go and do it... Now if you want to get rid of terrorism... turn off the cameras... terrorist don't want to kill they want to be in the news "the objective of terrorism is to 'promote terror' " It's a Schrodinger's Cat situation. If you don't speak about them, they just don't exist.
serindipity at 10:01 AM JST - 30th June

OK, so...... It's one port of around a hundred, which has now been internationally noted as one that carries out nuclear radiation detection equipment. At least the terrorists now know which port to not use.
nutsagain at 11:24 AM JST - 30th June

"It's a Schrodinger's Cat situation." Ahhhh... that's where I went wrong. Nothing like a little quantum physics to straighten out an errant post, huh? If I don't speak about it it doesn't exist. So if I beleive it, like say in Peter Pan's Neverland, it's there right? Ya don't say.... Gotta say you're is one of the most bizarre posts I've read in a long time. Keep 'em coming!
Coligny at 11:55 AM JST - 30th June

Nuts again... the fact you find my post bizarre and attack me instead of my argument that you seemingly totally overlooked or just plain didn't understand tells more about you than the potential level of bizarre in my post...

To make it simple... in Japan... count the # of death in Sarin attack, count the # of death by suicide with home made lethal gas. cas #1
nutsagain at 01:17 PM JST - 30th June

Perhaps you're right. I just overlooked it. I was too busy peering into the box to see of the cat was alive, dead or both instead of worrying about errant nukes? Gotta pay more attention. Please do go on...
Nippon5 at 05:09 PM JST - 30th June

Coligny Let me ask you a question, do you remember agent orange? or how about any of the other chemical/nerve agents used in war over the last 100 years . After spending 10 years as a missle/weapon specialist in the military I can tell you your just not on par with reality of what can happen with such weapons. If you would like to get down to how do you know you are not just someones elses dream......You cant, just like you cant wish war and terroism away. Come with me to any country that has daily attacks and see if you can ignore them. A front page weapon is also a Airplane crashing into a building, or a suicide bomb in a market its not killing 10k people in one hit, but it still is a way to kill.
Coligny at 01:45 PM JST - 9th July

Nippon5...you seems to be a technician with no strategical understanding.

Systematic use of a chemical weapon by an army have NOTHING to compare to 1-time terrorist actions.

An army spray huge quantities of agent orange from aircraft or choppers, low altitude over precise target. Terrorist... not so much... access to material is costly (but maybe feasible), access to planes or choppers correctly setup for delivery of said chemicals is not easy for your average Mujahidin. And after you have to fly it over populated areas. That's not a terurist plot, that's a benny-hill comedy... But with enough "can" "maybe" and "potential target" you can of course scare anybody...