‘Dirty bomb’ fears in Genoa

Italian authorities are reportedly looking for a way to dispose of the container – which has been at Genoa since last July and is barricaded by containers filled with stones and water, at the Voltri Terminal. There are fears that the container could be a terrorist weapon, and that opening it could trigger an explosive device. Officials are considering opening the box by remote-controlled robot, or taking it out of the port by barge.

The container is said to have originated from Sun Metal Casting in Adjman, UAE; it was meant to be carrying 18 tonnes of copper for a consignee north of Genoa. The container was exported through the Red Sea port of Jeddah, transhipped via Gioia Tauro, and was on the dock at Genoa for several days before it was discovered in a technical check to be radioactive.

“It is likely that the container was tampered with between Adjman and Jeddah,” said Joe Alioto, vice president sales at VeriTainer, which develops and manufactures Crane Mounted Solution (CMS) container scanning systems. “This is a security and ecological disaster. The container is very nearly glowing with Cobalt-60, its contents are unknown and there is no game plan for its disposal.”

The container could just as easily have been transhipped to New York he said. “In fact, 97% of containers arriving in the US are completely unscanned, then they remain on our docks, exposing 67m Americans to the threat of a nuclear-radiation event until they are finally scanned – too late – as they exit the terminal. The same threat is true for every other port city around the world.”

If CMS scanning had been in operation at Jeddah, the box would never have been loaded on the ship, he said.