Nuclear Forensic Technology Lecture 1

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Nuclear Forensic TechnologyLecture 1

• Terry A. Ring

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What is Forensics?

• scientific tests or techniques used in the
  investigation of crimes.
• the use of science and technology to investigate
  and establish facts in criminal or civil courts
  of law.
• relating to or dealing with the application of
  scientific knowledge to legal problems
• Sherlock Holms
• CSI

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What is nuclear Forensics?

• Nuclear forensics is the technical means by which
  nuclear materials, whether intercepted intact or
  retrieved from post-explosion debris, are
  characterized (as to composition, physical
  condition, age, provenance, history) and
  interpreted (as to provenance, industrial
  history, and implications for nuclear device
  design). This characterization and interpretation
  results from field work to obtain representative
  samples of the device materials, laboratory
  analyses, computer modeling, and comparison with
  databases that contain empirical data from
  previous analyses of materials samples or that
  may be the result of numerical simulations of
  device performance or both. AAAS Definition

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What is Nuclear Forensics?

• Nuclear forensics is the analysis of intercepted
  illicit nuclear or radioactive material and any
  associated material to provide evidence for
  nuclear attribution. The goal of nuclear analysis
  is to identify forensic indicators in interdicted
  nuclear and radiological samples or the
  surrounding environment, e.g. the container or
  transport vehicle. These indicators arise from
  known relationships between material
  characteristics and process history. Thus,
  nuclear forensic analysis includes the
  characterization of the material and correlation
  with its production history. IAEA

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Do Not Confuse NF with Nuclear Safeguards

• Nuclear safeguards are measures to verify that
  countries comply with their international
  obligations not to use nuclear materials for
  nuclear explosives. Since it is the country
  itself that is regarded as the potential diverter
  of nuclear material, confidence about the absence
  of diversion is provided by external, i.e.
  international, verification.  Global recognition
  of the need for such verification is reflected in
  the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
  Weapons (the NPT). 180 Nations have now signed
  agreeing that the International Atomic Energy
  Agency (the IAEA) must apply safeguards on all
  their nuclear material. Only India, Israel,
  Pakistan, and North Korea have not signed the
  treaty.

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What is missing in these definitions?
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Terrorist (Nuclear) Event
Hot Zone
ER
NF
Trans
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Zones

• Hot Zone
• In protective gear. Photos of evidence.
  Identify what should be sampled and preserved for
  Forensics purposes. Move them to Warm Zone for
  further analysis
• Warm Zone
• Samples are run through field analysis using
  instruments. Photos taken as samples are broken
  down and bagged for laboratory analysis. Chain
  of custody system established. Samples packaged
  for transportation to labs.
• Cold Zone
• Sample transportation to accredited FBI labs.

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Tools of Nuclear Forensics

• Hot Zone
• Geiger Counter
• Where is radioactive contamination?
• Warm Zone
• Gamma Spectrometer
• Is sample hot and dangerous?
• Helps establish what container is required for
  transportation to Lab.
• Nuclear Materials Chemical Analysis at NF Lab