--- April to June 2024 ---

Over the past few months, your TSUSG administrative team has been attending conferences across the radiological industry to share the hard work of this group and to recruit new members. You’ll see that we are welcoming 16 new members, all of which come from various backgrounds and organizations. Through you, our members, we identify the large challenges facing various aspects of delivering radiological sources to needed medical centers, research facilities, and other places.  Once a year, we come together to celebrate the work that we have done throughout the year and forge new alliances to face the next task. We hope to see you in Buffalo, NY at the end of August for our next annual meeting. Remember to register and set up your travel as soon as you can to guarantee the discount hotel rates. 

We welcome the following new members to TSUSG! We are happy to have you on board and look forward to a continued and beneficial partnership as we strive to enhance the security of radioactive materials in transit. Please join us in welcoming:

• Michael Lesley – Homeland Security Investigations
• Leon Wirschem – County of San Diego DEHQ Hazardous Incident Response Team
• Bill Stewart – Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Timothy Oswald – Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• Nate Chin – Puget Sounds Naval Shipyard
• Brad Gibson - Texas Department of Public Safety
• David Allard – TMI Unit 2 CAP
• Jeremy Patterson – Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• Kristen Mason – Source Production and Equipment Company 
• Troy Hedger – Alpha – Omega Services, Inc.
• Robert Stewart – Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• Adam Heitzenrater – South Carolina State Transport Police
• Pamela Crane – Idaho National Laboratory
• Jason Callahan – Texas Department of State Health Services
• Benjamin Coleman – South Carolina State Transport Police
• Simon Martel – Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission 

Register today to save your seat

Gear up for an enriching experience! Boost collaboration for your organization and among the transportation security community. The agenda will provide opportunities for you to strengthen your network reach and establish contacts ready to help you solve challenges in securing radioactive shipments. 

• Submit your conference registration to have access to the two-day agenda, a complimentary social, and tour by the Customs and Border Protection (CBP). 

• Reserve your hotel room at the Buffalo Marriott at LECOM HARBORCENTER. Discount rates available. Find other travel and conference info to plan the rest of your trip.

This year’s agenda will continue to build on the collaborative work that has defined the TSUSG.  

Priority Committee 7 (PC-7) - Managing radioactive source transport security regulations:

• PC 7, which is tasked with reviewing transportation regulations, has held monthly meetings to assess the various federal regulations that govern transportation modes of radioactive material shipments to reduce security risks and to coordinate with Transport Security Training committee (PC-8) and Cybersecurity committee (PC 10) to improve cyber resilience to support safe, secure and efficient shipments of Category 1 and Category 2 radioactive materials.

• The Transportation Security Unified Stakeholders Group (TSUSG) requires PC 7 to develop a guidance document that includes the following:

o A practical guide to the identification and implementation of source transport security regulations; 

o A multimodal transportation good practice guide to address inconsistencies with the different modal regulations, as promulgated by various regulatory agencies;

o A frequently-asked-questions with responses document; and

o Addressing regulatory issues or existing problems that could negatively impact source security during transport.

• To that end, the PC 7 has covered various related topics for discussions, including reference materials for review and relevant video presentations, at the monthly meetings:

o Jan. 10:  NRC 10 CFR 71 and its Agreement States’ corresponding transportation regulations; Texas and NH regulations were used as examples for discussing compatibility issues.  In addition, OSHA Radiation Emergency Preparedness and Response Requirements for a radiological transportation event were discussed, in responding to a suggestion made at the 2023 annual TSUSG meeting.  Another emergent issue that was examined was artificial intelligent (AI) and its implication on the source material transport.

o Feb. 14:  Additional discussion of TX transportation regulations.  An overview of drone delivery of radioactive packages as permitted under Canadian regulations.   Video presentation of NYC Fire Dept responding to real traffic accident that involved a radioactive device in car trunk.

o March 13:  A review of OSHA 1910.1096, “Ionizing radiation,” incorporated into the PC-7 regulatory roadmap and of the crosswalk table of Agreement States’ rules corresponding to NRC 10 CFR 37.  A video presentation of a knowledgeable expert on regulations of Canadian drone delivery of packages.

o April 10:  Discussions on State Reg. Programs’ Survey of Cat. 1 and Cat. 2 Sources. 10 CFR 37 Subpart D Physical Protection in Transit was included.  Overview of relevant sections in NUREG-2155 Rev. 2, Implementation Guidance for 10 CFR 37 Physical Protection of Category 1 and Category 2 Quantities of Radioactive Materials.

o May 8:  An initial review of GAO’s report on high-risk radioactive material and the national SCATR Program (Source Collection and Threat Reduction).  The SCATR Program is an initiative to reduce the number of unused radioactive sealed sources stored by licensees.  CRCPD works with the Los Alamos National Lab (LANL) and the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration to expedite the disposal of sealed sources of radiation that malicious individuals could use to terrorize or disrupt the U.S.  In large part, the transport of many SCATR sources falls under Part 37.

o June 12:   Overview of NRC Transportation Regulations: Parts 37, 71, and 73. 

Priority Committee 8 (PC-8) - Training opportunities within TSUSG:

• The Transportation Security Unified Stakeholders Group (TSUSG), Priority Committee (PC) 8 has refocused its sights on developing a secure transportation training program that will incorporate tabletop exercises (TTX) and a field training exercise (FTX). The envisioned program will build upon the joint DOE/Office of Radiological Security and the FBI Isotope Crossroads – A Radiological Transportation Security Tabletop Exercise. The subsequent building blocks will consist of role specific tactical style TTXs and a field training exercise (FTX). The initiative will be a collaborative effort with federal, state, local, and national laboratory partners. 

• The TSUSG Training Portal will continue to serve as a training repository for stakeholders responsible for the secure transport of radiological material.

• PC8 will identify opportunities and events to promote the TSUSG, the Training Portal, and the survey.  

Priority Committee 9 (PC-9) – Cybersecurity issues and mitigation options:

• TSUSG Cybersecurity Awareness and Planning Resources will soon be posted to the TSUSG member portal: The list has been delivered to ORNL media for design and upload.

• PC9 Phase 2 is exploring cybersecurity benchtop exercises pertinent to radioactive material transportation. We are developing two scenarios:

1. How can ransomware impact operations? Following examples such as the ransomware attack on the major shipper, Estes Express (https://www.securityweek.com/estes-express-lines-says-personal-data-stolenin-ransomware-attack/), this scenario will include real-world threats, requirements, and responses for class-7 material transportation (Leads: John Sladeek and Ryan Bennett).

2. How can we respond against unknown threats? Following the recent “truck worm ELD (Electronic Logging Device)” disclosure from Colorado State University (https://engr.source.colostate.edu/researchers-highlight-potentialcybersecurity-threats-to-trucking-industry-supply/). This exercise will include public and private responses to an escalating catastrophic transportation incident. (Leads: Kevin Spakes, Rick Waters, Lili Swann) 

Cybersecurity Quarterly Headlines:

Department of Energy investing into electric vehicle and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) cybersecurity

Open-source software used to hack over 30 Teslas

Mitre announced EMB3D, resources for IOT vulnerabilities

Fuxnet Malware suspected on Russian municipal services

Numerous vulnerability disclosures detail weak default passwords in connected industrial control system devices

Criminals impersonating carriers (websites, credentials, identities) to steal cargo and shipments

Priority Committee 10 (PC-10) – Artificial Intelligence

• During the past quarter, the PC 10 Committee on Artificial Intelligence met to discuss current applications of AI in a gamut of different applications. We covered many topics throughout AI, including a soft introduction to weak, strong, and super AI, as well as a more granular investigation into more specific algorithms and applications. This included a touch on topics in many machine learning topics, such as supervised learning, reinforcement learning, large language models, generative AI, and many other AI focus areas. These particular AI topics are continually changing and evolving, but our goal was to give a brief introduction and summary to those interested in exploring AI methods and workflows. 

The International Atomic Energy Agency's Code of Conduct on the Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources defines the five categories for radiation sources to help ensure that sufficient controls are being used to achieve safety and security:

• Category 1 sources, if not safely or securely managed, would be likely to cause permanent injury to a person who handled them or was otherwise in contact with them for more than a few minutes. It would probably be fatal to be close to this amount of unshielded material for a period of a few minutes to an hour. These sources are typically used in radiothermal generators, irradiators, and radiation teletherapy.

• Category 2 sources, if not safely or securely managed, could cause permanent injury to a person who handled them or was otherwise in contact with them for a short time (minutes to hours). It could possibly be fatal to be close to this amount of unshielded radioactive material for a period of hours to days. These sources are typically used in industrial gamma radiography, high- and medium-dose rate brachytherapy, and radiography.

• Category 3 sources, if not safely or securely managed, could cause permanent injury to a person who handled them or was otherwise in contact with them for hours. It could possibly—although it is unlikely to—be fatal to be close to this amount of unshielded radioactive material for a period of days to weeks. These sources are typically used in fixed industrial gauges such as level gauges, dredger gauges, conveyor gauges, spinning pipe gauges, and well-logging gauges.

• Category 4 sources, if not safely managed or securely protected, could possibly cause temporary injury to someone who handled them or was otherwise in contact with or close to them for a period of many weeks, though this is unlikely. It is very unlikely anyone would be permanently injured by this amount of radioactive material. These sources are typically used in fixed or portable gauges, static eliminators, or low-dose brachytherapy.

• Category 5 sources cannot cause permanent injury. They are used in x-ray fluorescence devices and electron capture devices.

Only Categories 1 and 2 for radiation sources are defined by NRC requirements.

TSUSG Members: if you have anything of interest you would like to share in this section with the rest of the membership via this quarterly bulletin, please send it to tsusg@ornl.gov for consideration. 

Isotope Crossroads – July 18. 2024
Little Rock, AR

Isotope Crossroads – August 7, 2024
Indianapolis, IN

Organization of Agreement States (OAS) Annual Meeting – August 18-22, 2024
Santa Cruz, CA

TSUSG Annual Conference – August 27-29, 2024
Buffalo, NY