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Contact: Catherine Elizondo
Email: elizondo1@llnl.gov
Internal ID: 09905
Detecting potential illicit neutron sources (fissile material) is important for homeland security and protecting the public by preventing radioactive or nuclear terrorism attacks. Radiation detection devices are also needed to safeguard transportation systems (ports and borders) and manage industrial nuclear materials. The standard approach to locating neutron sources is to use a neutron detector to look for count rate increases above background. Given the number of legitimate neutron sources used in industry, deploying standard neutron detectors results in a large number of alarms requiring more intrusive and time consuming inspections.
LLNL scientists have developed a simple neutron detection technique that can discriminate fissile material from non-fissile material. A low cost digital data acquisition unit collects data at high rates and processes large volumes of data in real-time. This technique functions in a passive mode much like a standard portal monitor. There are options for converting the technique to an active interrogation scheme.
Government and commercial uses for this technology include mobile or stationary monitoring and characterization of the type of neutron sources inside packages. Some examples of uses include inspection of packed cargo containers and trucks.
The technologies are described in published US patent applications 2007/0230651 and 2008/0205580.
Industrial Partnerships Office P.O. Box 808, L-795 Livermore, CA 94551 Phone: (925) 422-6416 Fax: (925) 423-8988
Operated by Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC, for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration