Material Discrimination for Treaty Verification with Multi-energy, X-ray Radiography

Conference · Mon Jun 10 04:00:00 EDT 2013

OSTI ID:1149241

Gilbert, Andrew J.; McDonald, Benjamin S.; Robinson, Sean M.; White, Timothy A.; Jarman, Kenneth D.; Deinert, Mark

As nuclear warhead stockpiles are reduced under current and future arms treaties, accuracy in accountancy of material stockpiles becomes increasingly important. Image-based active interrogation offers advantages to spectroscopic detection in its ability to measure the location and extent of a material, or materials, of interest from a declaration. However, the detail that imaging provides is often viewed as too intrusive due to its potential to disseminate sensitive information. In this work, we present a method for reducing multi-energy, x-ray radiography data to a few important attributes, based on declarations from behind an information barrier, which can then be used to confirm or deny a declaration. We build on previous work by improving the physics modeling; considering currently attainable, multiple-endpoint x-ray systems; and posing the problem as a nonlinear, inverse problem. Regularization is added to the problem, which smooths the solution and stabilizes an otherwise unstable solution. Here we show the ability to discriminate high-atomic–number materials from others with simulated single-view multiple-endpoint radiography data and present results from initial bench-top measurements.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1149241
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-96275; NN2001000
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

Nuclear material accountancy
imaging
information protection
regularization