CARSON CITY -- The state AFL-CIO leader charged Wal-Mart and the Retail Industry Leaders Association on Thursday with endangering the lives of Americans by lobbying against moves to require the inspection of every shipping container.

At a rally outside the Legislative Building, state AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Danny Thompson said 95 percent of the 11 million containers shipped into the United States every year never are checked.

"If one of these things (a small nuclear weapon) was put in a container and it detonated in one of our ports, it would make the Twin Towers look like a firecracker," Thompson said.

If a bomb exploded in the Port of Long Beach, Calif., Thompson said it would kill 150,000 people, cause $1 trillion in damage and devastate the American economy.

"If we can require every airport in America to have inspections, then we can do it at ports," he added.

Democrats in Congress have made legislation to require inspection of all containers at ports one of their priorities for 2007.

Republicans in the House of Representatives last April killed a similar bill.

But President Bush in October signed the Safety Accountability For Every Port Act, or SAFE, appropriating $3.4 billion and requiring the 22 largest ports to install mechanisms to screen for radiological materials by 2008.

The AFL-CIO last year accused Wal-Mart, which received 576,000 shipping containers in 2004, and the Retail Industry Leaders Association, the trade organization for major retail corporations, of leading the move to kill the 100 percent inspection requirement.

Al Thompson, vice president of the Global Supply Chain Policy company, said the SAFE port act includes a requirement to scan 100 percent of the cargo at a few ports.

"The Homeland Security Department has said that the technology for 100 percent scanning with radiation and imaging equipment is not yet ready for deployment to all foreign ports," added Al Thompson, speaking for the retailers group. "It would be irresponsible to deploy untested technology around the world before we learned all we could from the pilot project."

He added the 9-11 Commission did not recommend 100 percent scanning of U.S. bound containers. Instead, the commission said the government should "select the most practical and cost-effective ways" of improving transportation security.

A Wal-Mart legislative lobbyist did not return a call for comment.

Danny Thompson said it would cost about $100 to inspect each shipping container. He added most inspections would be done in foreign ports before cargo was shipped to the United States.

Sen. Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas, showed up at the rally wearing an "I am anti-Wal-Mart" sash.

"Years ago Wal-Mart made a decision to do business with people who weren't necessarily our friends," she said.

"Now they are complaining because we want them to inspect their containers. If they don't want to pay $100 a container, why don't they just buy the stuff from here. Do they care about the people of this country, or their profits?" Carlton added.