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Title: Nuclear disarmament verification via resonant phenomena

Abstract

Nuclear disarmament treaties are not sufficient in and of themselves to neutralize the existential threat of the nuclear weapons. Technologies are necessary for verifying the authenticity of the nuclear warheads undergoing dismantlement before counting them toward a treaty partner’s obligation. In this work, we present a concept that leverages isotope-specific nuclear resonance phenomena to authenticate a warhead’s fissile components by comparing them to a previously authenticated template. All information is encrypted in the physical domain in a manner that amounts to a physical zero-knowledge proof system. Using Monte Carlo simulations, the system is shown to reveal no isotopic or geometric information about the weapon, while readily detecting hoaxing attempts. This nuclear technique can dramatically increase the reach and trustworthiness of future nuclear disarmament treaties.

Authors:
 [1];  [1]
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  1. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
OSTI Identifier:
1529372
Grant/Contract Number:  
NA0002534
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nature Communications
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 9; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION

Citation Formats

Hecla, Jake J., and Danagoulian, Areg. Nuclear disarmament verification via resonant phenomena. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-03680-4.
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Hecla, Jake J., & Danagoulian, Areg. Nuclear disarmament verification via resonant phenomena. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03680-4
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Hecla, Jake J., and Danagoulian, Areg. Wed . "Nuclear disarmament verification via resonant phenomena". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03680-4. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1529372.
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@article{osti_1529372,
title = {Nuclear disarmament verification via resonant phenomena},
author = {Hecla, Jake J. and Danagoulian, Areg},
abstractNote = {Nuclear disarmament treaties are not sufficient in and of themselves to neutralize the existential threat of the nuclear weapons. Technologies are necessary for verifying the authenticity of the nuclear warheads undergoing dismantlement before counting them toward a treaty partner’s obligation. In this work, we present a concept that leverages isotope-specific nuclear resonance phenomena to authenticate a warhead’s fissile components by comparing them to a previously authenticated template. All information is encrypted in the physical domain in a manner that amounts to a physical zero-knowledge proof system. Using Monte Carlo simulations, the system is shown to reveal no isotopic or geometric information about the weapon, while readily detecting hoaxing attempts. This nuclear technique can dramatically increase the reach and trustworthiness of future nuclear disarmament treaties.},
doi = {10.1038/s41467-018-03680-4},
journal = {Nature Communications},
number = 1,
volume = 9,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Mar 28 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Wed Mar 28 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}
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Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03680-4
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Cited by: 11 works
Citation information provided by
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Figures / Tables:

Fig. 1 Fig. 1: Epithermal neutron interaction cross sections for plutonium isotopes. The legend lists the five isotopes of interest. For reference, WGPu is almost entirely made out of 239Pu and 240Pu, while RGPu contains significant contributions from 240,241,242,238Pu. Evaluated data taken from the JEFF-3.2 database
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    Works referencing / citing this record:

    A physically cryptographic warhead verification system using neutron induced nuclear resonances
    journal, September 2019

    Feasibility study of a compact neutron resonance transmission analysis instrument
    journal, January 2020

    • Engel, Ezra M.; Klein, Ethan A.; Danagoulian, Areg
    • AIP Advances, Vol. 10, Issue 1
    • DOI: 10.1063/1.5129961

    Feasibility study of a compact Neutron Resonance Transmission Analysis instrument
    text, January 2019

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