Explosive Guidelines

1. INTRODUCTION
The primary purpose of this document is to provide law enforcement agencies with
information that should aid them in the selection and utilization of explosives detection
equipment. The document is thus more practical than technical, emphasizing advice about the
capabilities of different technologies, and what technologies are likely to work best in various
applications. A wide variety of factors are considered that may be important to purchasers of
detection equipment, including cost, sensitivity, portability, ease of use, etc. Some technical
information is included in sections describing how the various detection technologies work, but
the level of detail is not great. Readers finding this material too technical can skip it while still
making use of the rest of the document, and readers desiring more technical detail can obtain it from the suggested readings in Appendix A1.
The remainder of this document is divided into several sections as follows:
Section 2 presents a market survey of currently available explosives detection equipment. In
tables 4 and 6, specific information is listed on 26 trace detection systems and 90 xray based
detection systems. To the knowledge of the authors, this information is complete as of October
1998. The information in these tables includes the type of detector or detection technology used
in each system, cost, recommended uses, system size and weight, and vendor contact
information. In the case of x-ray based systems, the cost information can only be approximate,
because most vendors are hesitant to quote a specific price for these (usually expensive) systems.
The table on trace detection systems also includes sensitivity information as provided by the
manufacturer, but it must be remembered that this information comes from the manufacturer and

*
Inclusion of specific technology in this document is not an endorsement by the authors or by Sandia National
Laboratories. This document includes detectors known to the authors as of October 1998. Some technologies may
not be included in the text due to oversight by the authors. Some detector characteristics described are not fully
quantifiable, and in such cases, comparisons between detectors are necessarily subjective.
1. Is not based on independent tests by a third party. Some independent test data exist for a few
systems, and in the experience of the authors, the claims made by the manufacturers are usually
not out of line with the system’s true performance. However, all independent test results known
to the authors are either classified or unclassified controlled nuclear information, so these results
are not included in this document, which is intended for public release. Parties interested in what
independent test data exist should contact the authors. Also included in section 2 are definitions
of commonly used terms such as throughput rate and portability, a discussion of explosive vapor
pressures and the issue of vapor sampling versus swipe (particulate) sampling in trace detection,
and information on how the different trace and x-ray systems operate and what their general
capabilities are. Finally, other techniques are discussed, including canine detection (already
familiar to most law enforcement, It must be stressed that the matrices in
section 3 are intended to point the reader in the right direction, and they are a starting point rather
than a solution in choosing a detection system. They are not a substitute for detailed discussions
with both the vendor(s) and a knowledgeable third party. Section 4 discusses various characteristics and performance parameters that could be used to
judge both trace and x-ray based detection systems, and defines ideal and nominal capabilities or
characteristics for these systems. Defining these parameters is to some degree arbitrary since the
“ideal” will of course depend upon the specific application. The definitions used are based on the
best judgment of the authors and some feedback received from several law enforcement
agencies, but it is really up to each potential purchaser to determine what the requirements are
for his or her application. Tables 10 and 11 rate various commercial detection systems as ideal,
nominal, or subnominal for the different parameters considered, and this allows the reader to
focus on those parameters that are most important to him/her and to make rapid comparisons.
Once again, these tables serve as a starting point for obtaining information and should
supplement but not replace detailed discussions with the vendor(s) and outside experts.