"Krone" on site

Radioactive charges: Radiation detectors in action

Highly sensitive air detection systems were used to check passing vehicles for radioactive radiation as part of the "Aktion scharf" campaign.(Bild: Uta Rojsek-Wiedergut)

"Action sharp": The radiation experts from the provincial police headquarters lay in wait on the A2 with sensitive high-tech equipment.

Transport accidents involving radioactive loads, accidents in laboratories, fires involving radioactive substances, satellites crashing with radioactive inventory, nuclear reactor incidents or even routine traffic checks - the 44 specially trained radiation detectors (SSP) from the Carinthia Provincial Police Directorate are deployed in a wide range of areas.

A total of 44 specially trained police radiation detectors are deployed in Carinthia.(Bild: Uta Rojsek-Wiedergut)

Head of operations Colonel Johannes Dullnig.(Bild: Uta Rojsek-Wiedergut)

Cars were also put to the test as part of the priority checks.(Bild: Uta Rojsek-Wiedergut)

Priority checks like this are always carried out jointly by the police and the state of Carinthia. The high-tech device from radiation protection officer Rudolf Weissitsch can finally "identify" the radioactive substances detected by the police.(Bild: Uta Rojsek-Wiedergut)

All trucks were checked for "radiation".(Bild: Uta Rojsek-Wiedergut)

In the area of civil protection, the executive is the only authority with which the provincial government cooperates in matters of radioactive threats. As was the case on Tuesday, when trucks and their loads in particular were targeted on the southern highway. "It happens again and again that radioactive industrial waste or clinical waste is transported or disposed of illegally," said head of operations Johannes Dullnig to "Krone". And this can result in up to 10 years in prison under criminal law.

Our sensitive devices even detect people who have previously undergone a nuclear medical examination.

Einsatzleiter Oberst Johannes Dullnig 

No danger to the public
However, this is reassuring at the same time - because the detected charges would not usually pose a danger to the population. Unless the radioactive scrap was subsequently processed into beds, for example. On the day of the operation, the Carinthian police's highly sensitive high-tech air detection systems did not indicate any elevated levels.