X-ray scanners still have a place.

BYLINE: BY R.G.EDMONSON

The Advanced Spectroscopic Portal may have stepped to the front in the battle against terrorists' nuclear or radiological weapons, but there is still a role for X-ray or gamma-ray equipment that gives inspectors a view of what's inside the box.

X-ray scanners, or non-intrusive inspection equipment, were components in the Integrated Container Inspection System demonstration project in Hong Kong in 2004. The machines performed as advertised, with just one major flaw: There was no one to look at the images. The solution would be to let computers do most of the looking, but until someone creates the software to do the job, image analysis …