Capabilities
Since 1975, NEST has been warned of 125 nuclear terror threats and has responded to 30. All have been false alarms. While it is common belief that NEST does not have the technology to accurately detect nuclear threats within the noise of natural radiation, in fact it has had the capability to distinguish between man-made and natural radiation since the 1970s. At first, there were still some problems with this simple distinction, as man-made radiation also includes such things as medical radiation. A man under treatment for Graves' disease with radioactive iodine set off alarms in the New York City subway. After being strip-searched and interrogated he was sent on his way.
Since its initial creation, the detection equipment has been improved and now data can be processed accurately enough to home in on the activity of any single nuclear element desired.
Read more about this topic: Nuclear Emergency Support Team
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