Detector Networks International, LLC (DNI), has received a $23 million contract from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to design and build up to six straddle carriers equipped with radiation detection sensors to scan cargo at seaports during transshipments. DNI beat out proposals from four other companies. The first straddler is due by Sept. 30 for testing if all goes well, the next five are slated for delivery by Sept. 30, 2010. The award was made under the Department of Energy’s Megaports Initiative, which involves setting up radiation screening equipment at major overseas ports. Transshipments refer to when cargo is offloaded at a port and later loaded onto a different ship without ever leaving the port. Currently few of those containers are scanned for materials that could be used in a nuclear or dirty bomb. Mounting the detectors on the straddle carriers should minimize the impact on port operations. The straddlers will be equipped with sodium iodide detectors for initial radiation detection and high-purity germanium detectors for isotope identification. Straddlers can maneuver over and scan rows of containers stacked up to four high. New Mexico-based DNI’s team includes MEI Technologies, Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific [TMO], Ametek‘s [AME] ORTEC division, Geodetics and Isoloader, which is supplying the straddlers.