Security device knows what's inside

Los Alamos National Laboratory machine detects dangerous liquids, which could help ease 3-ounce limits for carry-on bottles

By Sue Vorenberg | The New Mexican

12/16/2008

Children can get very loud when parents take away favorite things, like that one specific kind of juice box they just can't seem to live without.

But when the government snatches those same things away from parents in an airport, the parents aren't allowed to scream, fuss or roll around on the floor kicking their legs at everybody.

It's all in the interest of national security, after all.

And a few terrorists who tried to carry bomb-making liquids on some airline flights in 2006 have ruined it for the rest of us. That plot spurred a law in fall 2006 that banned airplane passengers in the U.S. from taking any container of liquid larger than 3 ounces onto a plane — essentially banning the juice box.

But Los Alamos National Laboratory thinks it's onto a solution that will place those juice boxes back where they belong — in the suddenly occupied mouths of once-screaming children.

Lab scientists demonstrated a prototype of a new kind of security scanner at Albuquerque International Sunport on Tuesday.

The device uses a kind of magnetism to detect dangerous liquids. And if it gets commercialized, that means water bottles, hand lotion and juice boxes, among other things, will be back among the carry-on items — and terrorists who try to bring dangerous liquids onboard will still be caught.

"It tells right away if the substance is a threat or not," said Vadim Zotev, a scientist on the project. "After that, it can be removed from the stream for analysis."

One liquid of concern is hydrogen peroxide. On Tuesday, the scientists showed how the machine can see hydrogen peroxide, even when it's hidden inside an otherwise innocent-looking milk container.

"Hydrogen peroxide should not be on a plane — that means something is very wrong," said Andrei Matlashov, another scientist on the project.

Putting a normal milk container and one full of hydrogen peroxide next to each other in a bowl, then running it through the machine, you instantly can see the difference between them on a monitor.

One container appears greenish, and the one with the hydrogen peroxide is bright red.

"Red means bad stuff," Matlashov said. "Yellow, we don't know. It might be bad stuff."

The prototype device cost about $5 million and took about two years to create. But there's no reason why a company couldn't commercialize it and sell it for the same price as a normal X-ray machine, Zotev said.

"The system can be relatively inexpensive," Zotev said. "And it can really make this country safer."

Eventually it could take the form of a circular hole, where TSA screeners could plop a water bottle or juice box in and know in about five seconds whether the liquid was dangerous, Matlashov said.

"With this system, a TSA officer doesn't have to ask what's inside; we know what's inside," Matlashov said. "If you scanned something and everything's green, you can go through. You could even go through with 100 bottles if you wanted to."

The device, called MagViz, uses magnetism to line up protons inside the liquid in a single direction. After that, it releases the protons and watches as they spin back into place, Matlashov said.

"How each liquid behaves in this spinning process is different for each chemical," he added.

It's hard to tell when exactly the device could be available in airports nationwide, although a lab news release suggested if the development process continues to be successful, the machines could be widely available by 2012.

The decision on whether to add them goes back to the Department of Homeland Security, however, said Michelle Espy, the LANL team leader.

"That's up to DHS to decide," Espy said. "The hope is with this we can relax the 3-ounce limit on liquids, but that has yet to be determined. It all depends on how far we can take the technology."

As a mom, though, Espy said she's hopeful the device will be available soon. "I'd love to be able to bring drinks for my kids — milk and juice boxes — on a plane again," Espy said. "I think I lot of parents would really like that."

She'd also be happy to not have to chug hot coffee before going through the security screeners anymore, she added.

Robert Kraus, the lab's deputy director for Laboratory Directed Research and Development, said one of his family members recently had an expensive bottle of perfume taken away by an airport screener — and that's another thing he'd like for people to be able to keep.

"The last thing I had taken away was a juice bottle because I just forgot," Kraus said. "It feels like you're being punished when you've done nothing wrong. They treat you like you did it on purpose."

Contact Sue Vorenberg at svorenberg@sfnewmexican.com.