Detection of Special Nuclear Materials

Alexander Glaser WWS556d Princeton University April 16, 2007

Revision 6

1 J. Kammeraad et al., Radiological and Nuclear Countermeasures Department of Homeland Security, Briefing, 9 March 2004

2 J. Kammeraad et al., Radiological and Nuclear Countermeasures Department of Homeland Security, Briefing, 9 March 2004

3 J. Kammeraad et al., Radiological and Nuclear Countermeasures Department of Homeland Security, Briefing, 9 March 2004

4 Detector Technology (main systems currently being acquired by DHS/DNDO)

Advanced Spectroscopic Portal (ASP) Spectroscopic analysis to reduce false alarms (“nuisance alarms”) due to normally occurring radioactive material (NORM) DNDO awarded contracts to three companies in July 2006 Total cost: $1.1 billion over a five-year period Several variants of the ASP (fixed-site, truck-mounted, and shuttle carrier-mounted systems)

Cargo Advanced Automated Radiography System (CAARS)

Detection of high-density material in cargo (Potential shielding for nuclear material to evade passive detection) DNDO awarded contracts to three companies in September 2006 Prototypes expected by mid-2009

Statement before the House Science Committee by Vayl S. Oxford, 8 March 2007

5 The “Verification of Shielded SNM” Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD), with final system design review expected in late FY 2009, “will develop and test advanced technology to resolve alarms and definitely verify the presence of SNM despite cluttered environments or intentional countermeasures like shielding.”

“The Department of Homeland Security’s R&D Budget Priorities for Fiscal Year 2008” Opening Statement by Vayl S. Oxford (Director DNDO, DHS) before the House Science Committee Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation 8 March 2007

6 Detection Modes & Techniques

7 Detection Modes

LOOK FOR

NEUTRONS passive detection PHOTONS (gammas)

USE LOOK FOR

NEUTRONS active NEUTRONS PHOTONS interrogation (gammas)

PHOTONS NEUTRONS (gammas)

PHOTONS PHOTONS (x-rays) (imaging)

8 The Detection Dilemma

Usability Performance

rather ineffective Passive modes simple and safe against shielded SNM (in particular, HEU)

cannot be used in able to trigger charac- Active modes many circumstances teristic response by SNM (e.g. dose to humans) (e.g. fission)

9 Passive Detection (of highly enriched uranium by its gamma radiation)

Plutonium can be passively detected by its neutron emissions NOT DISCUSSED BELOW

10 Decay Chains (simplified and incomplete)

Actinium Series Radium Series Pu-239 Pu-242

U-235 U-238 Pu-238 Pa-234m Th-231 Pa-231 Th-234 U-234 Pa-234 Ac-227 Th-227 Th-230

The most valuable gamma emission for detection purposes is a 1.001 MeV line of protactinium-234m (decay product of U-238, i.e. not U-235) About 100 gammas per second and gram of U-238 at 1.001 MeV

11 Passive Detection of SNM

External Shielding

Detector

Special Nuclear Material

Total Attenuation Detectable emission rate factors fraction Efficiency SB = B AD ! of detector AD S = (I × M) (G × F ) " Detector background !4πR2 "

3 4 S TM > m !SB TM with G ≈ 1 − exp − µ r and F = exp − λ d 4 µ r ! " 3 #$ ! " Criterion for detection of material

Self-shielding External shielding Minimum TM for given distance for solid sphere of radius r of thickness d or maximum distance R for given TM

This discussion follows: S. Fetter, V. A. Frolov, M. Miller, R. Mozley, O. F. Prilutsky, S. N. Rodionov, and R. Z. Sagdeev, “Detecting Nuclear Warheads,” Science & Global Security, Vol. 1, Nos. 3-4, 1990, pp. 225-253

12 Passive Detection of SNM

12 kg HEU (clean, 7% U-238)

Gamma radiation 84,500/s at 1.001 MeV Self-shielding of sphere G = 0.10 for µ = 1.41/cm

EXTERNAL SHIELDING (10 cm of lead)

Correction F = 0.00045 for λ = 0.77/cm

DETECTOR (10,000 cm2 at a distance of 100 cm)

Detectable fraction 0.08 Efficiency of detector 0.20 Background (B) for given gamma-energy 0.0017/(cm2 s)

TIME TO DETECTION (signal three standard deviations above background, m = 3)

130 minutes

Background values are from S. Fetter et al. and D. Srikrishna et al., op. cit.

13 Time to Detection as a function of the shielding, for clean HEU (12 kg, 7% U-238)

200

Time to detection: 130 minutes 150 Weight of lead-shielding: 164 kg

100 ction [minutes]

50 Time to dete Time to detection: 6 minutes Time to detection: 17 seconds Weight of lead-shielding: 105 kg Weight of lead-shielding: 62 kg 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Thickness of lead-shielding [cm]

(Detector with an effective area of 10,000 cm2 at 100 cm distance)

14 Passive Detection of SNM

12 kg HEU 12 kg HEU 4 kg WPu (clean, 7% U-238) (contaminated, 0.00000001% U-232) (93% Pu-239)

Gamma radiation 84,500/s at 1.001 MeV 321,600/s at 2.615 MeV 937,440/s at 0.769 MeV Self-shielding of sphere G = 0.10 for µ = 1.41/cm G = 0.16 for µ = 0.87/cm G = 0.10 for µ = 2.08/cm

EXTERNAL SHIELDING (10 cm of lead)

Correction F = 0.00045 for λ = 0.77/cm F = 0.00674 for λ = 0.50/cm F = 0.00004 for λ = 1.01/cm

DETECTOR (10,000 cm2 at a distance of 100 cm)

Detectable fraction 0.08 0.08 0.08 Efficiency of detector 0.20 0.20 0.20 Background 0.0017/(cm2 s) 0.0003/(cm2 s) 0.0073/(cm2 s)

TIME TO DETECTION (signal three standard deviations above background, m = 3)

130 minutes 0.2 seconds more than 10 hours

Note: plutonium can be passively detected by its neutron emissions

15 How Does a γ-Spectrum Look Like? 1989 “Black Sea Experiment” - Soviet SLCM, measurements on launch tube

This is what one would look for (in the case of clean HEU)

S. Fetter, T. B. Cochran, L. Grodzins, H. L. Lynch, and M. S. Zucker, “Measurements of Gamma Rays from a Soviet Cruise Missile,” Science, 248, 18 May 1990, pp. 828-834

16 GAO’s Assessment Statement of G. Aloise, 14 March 2007

“Instead of using the results of its performance tests conducted in 2005, DNDO’s [cost-benefit] analysis simply assumed that ASPs could detect highly enriched uranium 95 percent of the time, a performance level far exceeding the capabilities of the new technology’s current demonstrated capabilities. The 2005 test results showed that the best of the three winning vendor monitors could only identify masked HEU* about 50 percent of the time.”

*Masking is an attempt to hide dangerous nuclear or radiological material by placing it with benign radiological sources

17 Active Detection (briefly)

18 “Nuclear Car Wash” (Livermore Concept)

D. R. Slaughter et al., “Preliminary results utilizing high-energy fission product γ-rays to detect fissionable material in cargo,” Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B, 241 (2005), 777-781

19 “Nuclear Car Wash” (Detection of beta-delayed high-energy gamma-radiation)

100000

Sum of two curves 10000

55 s decay SNM target in 1000

14 MeV pulsed neutron source 100 illuminates target/cargo-setup for 30 seconds - followed by a 100-second counting interval (shown here) SNM target out Gamma-radiation above 3 MeV [counts] 10 Target/cargo setup: 380 grams of HEU 7.1 s decay within plywood (61 cm thickness) Detector distance: 2 meters 1 0 20 40 60 80 100 Time [sec] D. R. Slaughter et al., “Preliminary results utilizing high-energy fission product γ-rays to detect fissionable material in cargo,” Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B, 241 (2005), 777-781

20 Active Methods, cont’d

Active techniques using pulsed neutron sources or high-energy gamma-rays require heavy shielding and cannot be used with vehicles carrying passengers

Concept proposed by research group at University of Wisconsin (detection of delayed neutrons) R. Radel et al., Detection of HEU Using a Pulsed D-D Fusion Source, 2006 Technology of Fusion Energy Conference, 15 November 2006

21 Imaging Techniques

“These X-rays, viewed simultaneously, provide the most information about the contents of the truck's container. Transmission X-rays penetrate the mixed cargo providing a “shadowgram” X-ray (top) revealing dark anomalies indicating dense materials. The detailed Z Backscatter image (bottom) highlights lower density materials, providing context and clarity to expedite inspection.”

American Science & Engineering, Inc. www.as-e.com

22 Imaging Techniques

American Science & Engineering, Inc. www.as-e.com

23 Imaging Techniques

ZBV (Z Backscatter Van) - Promotional Video American Science & Engineering, Inc.

24 Summary

Passive Detection Special Nuclear Materials (and in particular highly enriched uranium) have weak characteristic signatures Vulnerability to countermeasures (evasion of detection)

Active Detection More robust than passive techniques Several concepts under research and development Intrusiveness may/will raise privacy (and possibly public health) issues

25 Summary

Detection Systems in General Needs uniform detection coverage across every transportation mode Focused on (and most effective at) points-of-entry about 650 metric tons of HEU (40% of global inventory) are “already” in the United States (mostly at military sites or in deployed nuclear weapons - but also at civilian research-reactor sites) Fixed-detector systems will likely displace illicit trafficking to means of transport that avoid portals (for a discussion, see for example D. Srikrishna et al.)

Complementary Approaches to Nuclear Detection Global cleanout of civilian highly enriched uranium (conversion of research reactors to low-enriched fuel, shutdown and defueling of unneeded facilities) More general: no fissile materials in the nuclear fuel cycle (would include stopping reprocessing of spent fuel, i.e. separation of plutonium)

26 References

• S. Fetter, V. A. Frolov, M. Miller, R. Mozley, O. F. Prilutsky, S. N. Rodionov, and R. Z. Sagdeev, “Detecting Nuclear Warheads,” Science & Global Security, Vol. 1, Nos. 3-4, 1990, pp. 225-253

• S. Fetter, T. B. Cochran, L. Grodzins, H. L. Lynch, and M. S. Zucker, “Measurements of Gamma Rays from a Soviet Cruise Missile,” Science, 248, 18 May 1990, pp. 828-834

• D. Srikrishna, A. N. Chari, T. Tisch, “Deterrence of Nuclear Terrorism with Mobile Radiation Detectors,” The Nonproliferation Review, Volume 12, Number 3, Fall/Winter 2005, pp. 573-614

• D. R. Slaughter et al., “Preliminary results utilizing high-energy fission product γ-rays to detect fissionable material in cargo,” Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B, 241 (2005), pp. 777-781

• American Science & Engineering, Inc., www.as-e.com

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