Areas of Expertise
Multidisciplinary solutions for nuclear security
NSSPI Expertise
Effective solutions to complex nuclear proliferation problems are often multidisciplinary. NSSPI’s organizational structure enables us to seamlessly matrix in the expertise and research talent we need from across the Texas A&M campus.
Nuclear Security
- Physical protection system design and evaluation
- Nuclear security risk and vulnerability assessment
- Adversary-path and multi-path analysis
- Insider-threat mitigation
- Human reliability and trustworthiness programs
- Nuclear security culture
- Cybersecurity and cyber-physical security for nuclear
- Security of nuclear and radioactive material in transport
- Event and facility security
- Nuclear security knowledge management
- Nuclear security education, exercises, and workforce development
Nuclear Safeguards and Material Accountancy
- Safeguards approach development
- International safeguards and IAEA verification
- Nuclear material control and accountancy
- Safeguards instrumentation and nondestructive assay
- Spent nuclear fuel measurement and verification
- Remote monitoring of spent-fuel storage
- Near-real-time accountancy and anomaly detection
- Safeguards-by-design
- Material-balance evaluation and uncertainty analysis
- Safeguards training and professional development
Advanced-Reactor and Fuel-Cycle Safeguards
- Safeguards for small modular and microreactors
- Pebble-bed and TRISO-fueled reactor safeguards
- HALEU fuel fabrication and material accountancy
- Molten-salt reactor safeguards
- Pyroprocessing and reprocessing safeguards
- Advanced and recycled nuclear fuel cycles
- Proliferation-resistance assessment
- Fuel-cycle modeling and simulation
- Integration of safeguards into facility design
Nuclear Forensics and Attribution
- Pre- and post-detonation nuclear forensics
- Nuclear-material provenance and source attribution
- Reactor-type, fuel-burnup, and irradiation-history determination
- Plutonium and uranium characterization
- Radiochemical separations and sample preparation
- Gamma and mass spectrometry
- Trace-element and isotope-ratio analysis
- Destructive and nondestructive assay
- Machine-learning methods for nuclear forensics
- Nuclear-forensics education and laboratory training
Radiation Detection, Measurement, and Imaging
- Gamma- and neutron-detector development
- Radiation portal-monitor systems
- Mobile and field-deployable detection systems
- Radiation-source localization and quantification
- Directional radiation detection
- Gamma and neutron spectroscopy
- Radiation imaging and tomographic reconstruction
- Digital signal processing and FPGA implementation
- Machine learning for detector data
- Detector testing under realistic and changing environmental conditions
- Radiation-detection laboratory and field training
Nuclear Nonproliferation and Policy
- Nuclear proliferation-risk assessment
- Nuclear weapons latency analysis
- Deterrence and strategic stability
- Proliferation implications of advanced reactors and fuel cycles
- Nuclear newcomer-country assessment
- Nuclear trade and intangible technology transfer
- Export-control analysis
- Nuclear Suppliers Group control frameworks
- Small modular reactor deployment and security
- International nuclear-energy policy
- Technical-policy analysis and decision support
- Nonproliferation education and professional training
Safety, Security, and Safeguards Integration
- Integrated safety, security, and safeguards analysis
- 3S-by-design
- Identification of cross-domain dependencies and conflicts
- Integrated risk and vulnerability assessment
- Stochastic modeling of safeguards and security performance
- AI-supported 3S evaluation
- Multi-agent analysis of nuclear-system design
- 3S curriculum development
- International 3S education and workforce development
- Nuclear infrastructure development for newcomer countries
Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Consequence Management
- Radiological emergency preparedness
- Atmospheric dispersion and dose assessment
- Emergency-planning-zone development
- Consequence assessment and management
- Radiation monitoring following a radiological release
- Detection and response exercises
- Responder instrumentation and field measurements
- Agricultural and livestock monitoring
- Emergency operations and incident management
- Domestic and international responder training
Cross-Campus Expertise
- Department of Nuclear Engineering
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
- Department of Chemical Engineering
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering
- Department of Animal Science (College of Agriculture & Life Sciences)
- College of Veterinary Medicine
- Department of Chemistry (College of Science)
- Department of Mathematics (College of Science)
- Department of Political Science (Bush School)
- Bush School of Government and Public Service (International Affairs | Public Policy | National Security)
- Texas A&M Cybersecurity Center
- Nuclear Science Center
- Center for Large-Scale Scientific Simulations
- Cyclotron Institute
- Emergency Operations Training Center
- National Emergency Response and Recovery Training Center (NERRTC)
- Disaster City