Thermo Electron Partnership
Protects America’s Ports

The entry of fissile material in the form of a dirty bomb or nuclear weapon through America’s ports continues to be a major threat to the nation. In this dangerous environment, Sandia National Laboratories is providing innovative systems that enhance the probability of detection. Sandia recently concluded a CRADA with Thermo Electron Corporation that licensed the Sandia-developed FitToDB algorithm for commercial use in a spectroscopic portal to identify concealed nuclear devices. As a result of the capabilities transferred by the licensing agreement, interest in the Thermo Electron spectroscopic portals has been shown by the Department of Homeland Security, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and the Border Patrol and Customs.

Sandia’s unique capabilities in monitoring for nuclear materials have been honed by its work on the SMART system, which detects radioactive materials passing within a few meters of the detector. The SMART system, funded by DOE, consists of commercial hardware (gamma-ray and neutron detectors) combined with customized electronics and software developed at Sandia. FitToDB is the copyrighted software for isotope identification used within the SMART system.

Thermo Electron combined the Sandia algorithms with its existing algorithms to create a value-added platform, based on proprietary Thermo Electron architecture. The ThermoXChannel architecture, combined with Sandia intellectual property, yielded the ultimate system for detecting and unambiguously identifying radionuclides in motion. This revolutionary new approach to detecting and identifying isotopes may also, in the future, allow several detectors (rad/nuc, chem, bio, etc.) to be supported off single-board architecture, yielding simplicity and total integration of multi-analyte detectors. The ultimate goal is to be able to monitor 10,000 containers a day at a location with a vehicle traveling 3 mph.

Thermo Electron has used the FitToDB algorithm and sensor design principles imparted during the technology transfer process to construct several sensors that have been delivered to various sponsors. Sensors that will be used for domestic applications include several ARIS (Advanced Radionuclide Identification System) portals that were delivered to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and two Advanced Spectroscopic Portals (ASPs) delivered to the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office. Thermo Electron also developed portals for use under the Megaports program. These sensors (ARIS-2) include a stationary installation and a mobile system.

A SMART cart scanning a truck for nuclear materials

This innovative partnership has transitioned DOE-funded technology vital for national security from Sandia to a commercial provider of a unit that is highly reliable and extremely sensitive in detecting nuclear material.