Preventing terrorists from smuggling nuclear and radiological material across our borders has been a priority for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) since the beginning of this century. Radiation detection portal monitors are currently the primary means by which the CBP scans cargo and vehicles at ports […]
Osborn Wins Student Paper Award at the INMM Annual Meeting
Jeremy Osborn won the J.D. Williams Student Paper Award at the 59th Annual Meeting of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management (INMM) took place from July 22-26 in Baltimore, Maryland. Osborn is a Ph.D. student in the department of nuclear engineering working with the Center for Nuclear Security Science and Policy Initiatives (NSSPI) Director Dr. […]
NSSPI develops remote detection laboratory for distance education
Performing radiation detection experiments is an essential part of the curriculum for nuclear engineering students. Laboratory sessions help students gain a better understanding of the physical processes involved in radiation detection. However, not all academic institutions have the means to provide the equipment or radiation sources necessary for such labs, and students taking distance education […]
NSSPI researchers develop new methodologies to discriminate weapons-grade plutonium from various nuclear reactor types
Nuclear forensics involves using analytical techniques to determine the origin and history of nuclear materials, in particular those that have been intercepted from smuggling operations or recovered following a nuclear explosion. According to Jeremy Osborn, a nuclear engineering Ph.D. student working with the TEES Center for Nuclear Security Science and Policy Initiatives (NSSPI), “The growing […]
NSSPI Student Develops a Stochastic Approach to Evaluate Nuclear Facility Security
All nuclear facilities contain assets that must be protected against security threats. Threats may be in the form of outsider adversaries seeking to steal materials to produce nuclear weapons or dirty bombs or to attack the facility to cause a dangerous release of radioactive materials. Adversaries may also collude with insiders, people with authorized access […]
NSSPI Researchers Examine Novel Solutions to the Problem of Reprocessing Used Nuclear Fuel
The U.S. has produced more than 70,000 metric tons of used nuclear fuel over the past 60 years from nuclear power generation. There is currently no available repository capable of containing this large amount of used nuclear fuel, which is expected to double within the next 30 years. The U.S. has also not implemented any […]
NSSPI Student Evaluates the Effects of Speed on Detector Efficiency
Radiation detectors are deployed for many different uses in a variety of different field conditions, and many of these detection systems are mobile. The efficiency of radiation detection systems is known to decrease as the speed of the detection system increases. Understanding how these systems perform under increasing speeds and in changing environments will help […]
NSSPI researchers working to make nuclear facilities safer–and more secure
A loss of offsite power event at a nuclear power plant, also called a LOOP event, is considered a serious safety risk that could put many lives in danger. After the 2012 incident at the Fukushima-Daiichi power plant in Japan, which involved an extended loss of offsite power in the wake of a massive earthquake […]
Erchinger, Shah Present at SORMA West 2016
NSSPI students Manit Shah and Jennifer Erchinger presented posters at the 2016 IEEE Symposium on Radiation Measurements and Applications (SORMA West) in Berkeley, CA from May 22 through 26. Both Shah and Erchinger are Ph.D. students in Dr. Craig Marianno’s research group, which focuses on combatting nuclear terrorism through research in radiation detection, emergency response, and consequence-management. […]
NSSPI Graduate Spotlight: Mary Johansen
Mary Johansen will be receiving her M.S. degree in nuclear engineering from Texas A&M University this May. She worked with Dr. William Charlton to quantify the nuclear weapons latency value of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with the Islamic Republic of Iran. The JCPOA is intended to ensure that the nuclear program in […]
NSSPI Graduate Spotlight: Corey Keith
Corey Keith will be graduating with a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering in May. Keith worked with Dr. William Charlton on a project to investigate trace uranium-236 content variations in world-wide geologic uranium deposits. Nuclear signatures, whether for forensics or safeguards applications, utilize two broad classes: comparative and predictive. While comparative methods analyze a sample against […]
NSSPI Hosts Interns from the Tomsk Polytechnic University in Russia
From October 1 to December, NSSPI hosted two student interns from the Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) in Tomsk, Russia. Denis Tatarnikov and Dmitry Prokopyev spent their internship at NSSPI conducting research in nuclear security and nuclear forensics under a project sponsored by the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Material Protection, Control, and Accounting and […]
Goodsell Wins Session Award at ANS Student Conference
NSSPI student Alison Goodsell was awarded the Isotopes and Radiation Session Award at the 2012 American Nuclear Society (ANS) Student Conference, which was held April 12-15 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Goodsell presented research on the use of a quartz-crystal x-ray spectrometer to improve the detection of the Pu and U x-ray peaks in spent fuel […]
Goddard and Ryan Perform Neutron Measurements at the Joint Research Center
Nuclear Security Science and Policy (NSSPI) Graduate Assistant Researchers, Braden Goddard and Chris Ryan, traveled to the European Commission Joint Research Center (JRC) in Ispra, Italy from December 4 through December 11, 2010, to perform neutron measurements in support of Goddard’s Ph.D. research. The objective of the measurements was to detect neutrons in coincidence using […]