Lab Researchers Testing Instruments, Developing Ways to Detect Nuclear Materials in Cargo Containers; Efforts Could Aid the War On Terrorism.

Business/News Editors

LIVERMORE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 15, 2002

Commercial instruments have been tested and new technologies are under development by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers to detect nuclear materials inside cargo containers.

The work, funded by the National Nuclear Security Administration, is designed to help prevent the smuggling of nuclear materials inside the millions of cargo containers that annually enter the United States.

During three weeks in June, Livermore researchers tested 19 commercially available handheld instruments that are being used or might be used by various government agencies to detect nuclear materials.

"Our aim is to evaluate the various types of equipment that could be used for monitoring air, ocean and intermodal cargo containers for nuclear materials," said Bill Dunlop, leader of the Lab's Proliferation Prevention and Arms Control Program. (Intermodal cargo containers are containers that can travel by ship, rail and truck.)

Among the participants in the evaluation project were personnel from the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Information about the performance and capabilities of the detection instruments for seeking out nuclear materials will be furnished to different government agencies.

"One of our areas of expertise is understanding what goes into a nuclear weapon, so we know how to test equipment to find the materials for which we're searching," Dunlop said.

Lawrence Livermore researchers have experience in designing and testing nuclear weapons and have assessed possible improvised nuclear devices as part of the Laboratory's nonproliferation programs, according to Dunlop. These capabilities are bolstered by the Laboratory's expertise in trace element detection.

The work by Laboratory researchers to evaluate radiation detection instruments is being performed as part of a request to the NNSA.

As part of the larger NNSA project, Livermore and other researchers will also develop new and enhanced detection systems, and will train personnel in the use of detection technology.

During tests of the radiation detection instruments, Lab researchers placed small amounts of nuclear materials amidst other goods that might be shipped inside cargo containers.

Among the radiation sources used in the testing were plutonium, enriched uranium, cesium 137, barium 133, phosphorus 32 and combinations of these sources.