The General Department of Vietnam Customs on May 9 officially launched scanning systems for detecting radiation in goods in the Cai Mep-Thi Vai port complex.

As many as 12 portals were installed in the international container port, the Tan Cang- Cai Mep port and the SP-PSA port, all of which lie in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

Information collected from the portals will be transmitted to a central office for analysis and handling.

Developed under a cooperation framework between Vietnam and the US, the systems aim to deter the smuggling of nuclear and radioactive commodities into the complex.

The US hopes to be able to prevent the remote transport of nuclear materials to the country. It expects to deploy such systems at 75 sea ports in 30 countries over the world.

Vietnam’s participation in the initiative demonstrated the country’s cooperative goodwill in protecting global security.

The US provided Vietnam with assistance worth almost 4.42 million USD to implement the project.

The scanning systems were put into use for trial purpose in the complex from October last year. As of May 5, they had scanned more than 4,500 cases and yet to detect any radiation.-VNA