The National Nuclear Security Administration’s airborne, radiation-sniffing Nuclear Emergency Support Team was to wrap up four days of background sampling over Los Angeles on Saturday ahead of the ninth annual Summit of the Americas, the agency said.
Ahead of the scheduled meeting June 6 of government, industry and community representatives from each American continent, a low-flying National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) helicopter trimmed in the traditional blue and silver was to fly a grid pattern at about 80 miles per hour, ground speed, measuring the city’s levels of background radiation.
Flights were to began June 1 and were scheduled to wrap June 4, weather permitting, according to an NNSA press release.
The Aerial Measuring System components of the NNSA’s Nuclear Emergency Support Team routinely makes maps of an area’s background radiation ahead of mass gatherings including major sporting events or holidays. Assessing background levels ahead of an event makes it easier to detect radiological dispersal devices — dirty bombs that spread radioactive particles using conventional explosives — that bad actors might try to detonate in a crowd.
Earlier this year, the NNSA said it would replace the aging Bell helicopters that make up the rotary portion of the Aerial Measuring System with a pair of new Leonardo AW139 helicopters. The NNSA in 2019 replaced the fixed-wing component of the Aerial Measuring System with a pair of new King Air 350ERs.
