The Department of Homeland Security and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) last week announced a new forensics capability to trace the origins of nuclear weapon-usable plutonium.
The new Plutonium Processing Signatures Discovery capability involves the replication of various plutonium conversion processes that result in the production of weapon-usable material with different characteristics – such as color or density, DHS said in a blog post.
These characteristics, called signatures, are then used to trace the plutonium’s point of origin. “This new capability will significantly improve our ability to trace the origins of plutonium, because it allows us to replicate individual nations’ processes,” DHS said.
PNNL, a Department of Energy laboratory in Washington state, said in its own news release that it would then analyze the plutonium samples and create a database of the material’s signatures for the DHS Domestic Nuclear Detection Office. This office could use that information to identify sources of plutonium potentially confiscated from radioactive material smugglers.
“In the event of a nuclear weapon detonation, knowing where radioactive material came from can help investigators determine who’s responsible,” DHS said.
Steven Ashby, PNNL director, said in a statement that the new nuclear forensics capability “is four years in the making and the result of a great partnership and close collaboration between PNNL, DNDO, and the nuclear forensics community.”
Last February, Texas A&M University announced its researchers have developed another method to identify the origins of weapon-usable plutonium – through a radiochemistry process that separates plutonium from trace elements, which then help investigators identify specific types of production reactors. This project also received funding from the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office.
