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Full body scanners are set to be introduced at Cardiff Airport, the Government has announced today.

Passengers travelling through Cardiff Airport will have the choice between the full-body scanner, which scans through clothing, or request to be searched privately.

Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin today said 11 airports will have the scanners installed, including Cardiff, as he warned the UK threat level remains "substantial", with an attack "a strong possibility."

The other airports include Bristol, Liverpool, Newcastle, Leeds Bradford, East Midlands and Prestwick.

Cardiff Airport chief executive Jon Horne said: "We've been in dialogue with the Department of Transport about this equipment as have many other airports for some considerable time and it's something which we will deploy next year.

"It offers a really enhanced security service both in it's ability to help staff detect metal objects and to speed up security procedures."

He added: "I understand people's concerns but they have nothing to worry about.

"The equipment presents a physical image of a human body and people will be able to see the image as they go through.

"It's essentially a visual representation which looks like a mannequin and does not show any naked bodies or anything like that."

Currently, 10 airports around the country are already using these types of scanner.

They were put into use at airports including Heathrow in response to the threat to aviation posed by non-metallic improvised explosive devices, such as that used in the attack on Northwest Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day 2009.

In that incident, a 23-year-old Nigerian attempted to ignite an explosive device strapped to his leg by injecting a liquid into it. He was badly burned before being subdued.

Mr McLoughlin also cited the incident in Yemen in spring 2012 when a device intended to explode on a plane was recovered in advance of a United States-bound flight.

He said today: "These devices were designed to make detection by existing screening methods extremely difficult. More broadly, the UK threat level remains at substantial: an attack is a strong possibility."

The private search alternative, which will be allowed from tomorrow, was not previously available to passengers who objected to the full-body scan.

In the past, passengers who refused to be scanned by a security scanner were not offered an alternative, and were not allowed to fly on that occasion.

He added that work was under way with those airports which already deploy security scanners to consider the case for increasing their deployment of them.

Mr McLoughlin said that in the UK, all security scanners now use millimetre wave technology, which has no known health risks and which is quite different from X-ray technology.

He went on: "Furthermore, all security scanners deployed now use automatic threat recognition software, which means that no image of a passenger is produced, thus alleviating any residual health or privacy concerns.

"The overwhelming evidence from airports is that nearly all passengers accept the use of security scanners and find the process quick and convenient. However, I appreciate a small minority may still prefer to request an alternative procedure for a variety of reasons."