NCJ Number
205202
Journal
Law Enforcement Technology Volume: 31 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2004 Pages: 98-100
Date Published
April 2004
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article describes a portable instrument system that is capable of rapidly and nonintrusively identifying high-value, strategic or nuclear dual-use materials, which makes it suitable for identifying nuclear materials at the border.
Abstract
The instrument was designed by the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, WA. Called the Dual-Use Analyzer, the system enables a border inspector or other field agent to identify cargo and differentiate between metals of similar appearance, eliminating the need for costly off-site analysis. The instrument will take inspectors only 1 to 3 seconds to determine the composition of a material. Using eddy current technology (a method of detecting changes in the properties of a coil placed in contact with metals of different conductivity and permeability), the Dual-Use Analyzer determines the electrical conductivity of the candidate metal and then compares this signal "signature" against an on-board library of nuclear dual-use and high-value metal signatures. The system is sufficiently sensitive to identify various metals that may have been "comingled" in an attempt to avoid detection by confusing the device. This system is a major improvement over current protocols, which require border inspectors to divert suspicious materials to sampling and off-site analysis.