OTTAWA, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Eight new radiation scanners were unveiled Monday at Canada's port of Montreal as a measure to guard against terrorist attacks.

    The scanners, which will check about 1,200 containers that come into the port each day for radioactive substances that can be used in terrorist attacks, are part of an international effort to improve marine security, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day told a news conference.

    "It also sends a signal to those who may be planning or who think they can get away with planning something like importing certain materials that may be dangerous that they will be detected... this is a deterrence measure," Day said.

    The measures were first announced in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the United States in September 2001. The same equipment has been in place in other Canadian ports like Vancouver and Halifax.

    A total of 36 will be installed across the country, with each costing up to 220,000 Canadian dollars (198,000 U.S. dollars).