THE FISSILE MATERIAL TRANSPARENCY TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATION (FMTTD)
The United States Department of Defense, Defense Threat Reduction Agency Cooperative Threat Reduction program is supporting the construction of a fissile material storage facility at Mayak in the Russian Federation. Up to 34 tons of weapon-grade plutonium will be stored in the facility to await disposition. In order to meet arms control and nonproliferation objectives, the U.S. Congress has requested assurances that the nuclear material stored at the Mayak facility is derived from dismantled nuclear weapons. The usual approach to identify the origin or state of radioactive materials is to measure the intensity and energy of neutron and gamma radiation emitted. However, the Russian Federation considers such details as isotopic composition and mass to be classified. The solution arrived at by a DOE multilaboratory team is to place the radioactive specimen, the gamma and neutron counters, and all the computational equipment behind an information barrier. In the Fissile Materials Transparency Technology Demonstration (FMTD), this equipment was configured and programmed to measure the following six attributes: isotopic ratio, threshold mass, absence of oxide, presence of plutonium, age, and symmetry. On August 16, 2000, at Los Alamos National Laboratory, a delegation of Russian officials observed the successful demonstration of this new technology (called an Attribute Measurement System with Information Barrier, or AMS/IB). The scientists were able to demonstrate without releasing classified information that the nuclear material sample being tested (a nuclear weapon pit) had the declared weapon-grade plutonium characteristics. Once fully developed, AMS/IB technology will protect sensitive information while providing the United States increased confidence that the mandated Russian fissile materials have been stored. Attribute measurement systems can play a role in a number of U.S.-Russian nuclear security regimes such as the Trilateral Initiative, the Plutonium Production Reactor Agreement, and future strategic arms agreements. This paper discusses the details of this new inspection equipment, the August 2000 demonstration, and potential future applications.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 783354
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-01-3570; TRN: US0106109
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Conference title not supplied, Conference location not supplied, Conference dates not supplied; Other Information: PBD: 1 Jun 2001
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
ARMS CONTROL
CLASSIFIED INFORMATION
FISSILE MATERIALS
GAMMA RADIATION
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
PLUTONIUM
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
US DOD
STORAGE FACILITIES
NUCLEAR MATERIALS MANAGEMENT
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
DESIGN
PERFORMANCE