skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Detecting special nuclear materials in suspect containers using high-energy gamma rays emitted by fission products

Patent ·
OSTI ID:985855
 [1];  [2]
  1. Oakland, CA
  2. Kensington, CA
+ Show Author Affiliations

A method and a system for detecting the presence of special nuclear materials in a suspect container. The system and its method include irradiating the suspect container with a beam of neutrons, so as to induce a thermal fission in a portion of the special nuclear materials, detecting the gamma rays that are emitted from the fission products formed by the thermal fission, to produce a detector signal, comparing the detector signal with a threshold value to form a comparison, and detecting the presence of the special nuclear materials using the comparison.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC03-76SF00098
Assignee:
The Regents of the University of California (Oakland, CA)
Patent Number(s):
7,474,725
Application Number:
11/871,887
OSTI ID:
985855
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (4)

An Eclectic Journey Through Experimental Nuclear Physics, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Nuclear Data conference January 2005
A comment on “Signatures of fissile materials: high-energy γ-rays following fission” by E. B. Norman et al. (Nucl. Instru. Meth. Phys. Res. A 521 (2004) 608) journal December 2004
Monte Carlo models for the production of β-delayed gamma-rays following fission of special nuclear materials journal August 2004
The "nuclear car wash": a scanner to detect illicit special nuclear material in cargo containers journal August 2005

Similar Records

Related Subjects

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY