Nuclear Forensic Technology
Lecture 1
Terry A. Ring
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
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
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
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 NonProliferation 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.
What is missing in these
definitions?
Terrorist (Nuclear) Event
ER
Trans
Hot Zone
NF
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.
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