OAKLAND, Calif. (KCBS)  -- The Port of Oakland will test a device next year designed to detect radioactive material inside cargo containers, as part of the effort to keep American ports safer from terrorism.

The St. Helena based company VeriTainer developed the device, called a VeriSpreader, which can be rapidly swept over each cargo container. The scanner will be tested at the port’s domestic terminal first. Some containers will have radioactive test material planted in them, but VeriTainer CEO John Alioto said there are no real dangers.

"Our device is purely passive. It's not an active device at all. For example, the x-ray machine that you have experienced at the dentists office, that's an active device. It has a source of radiation that is shot at the target, and then it's detected. This is strictly detection."

Alioto told KCBS’ Bob Melrose that the cost of operating the device will depend on how many containers the VeriSpreader checks.

"We will front all the costs, we'll put the device there. You don't buy or pay for anything that doesn't work, but when you see it works and you certify that it works, you pay us $20 a container."

With a million containers passing through Oakland each year, the VeriSpreader could rack up quite a bill.  Court officials are hoping the federal government will pick up part of the tab.

(RdD)