Decision Sciences, Battelle to develop passive nuclear material detector
The companies will rely on work done by Decision Sciences and Los Alamos National Laboratory on muon tomography and gamma ray detection applications; the collaborative effort will yield a multi-mode system capable of detecting nuclear materials across the complete threat spectrum, including shielded and unshielded nuclear materials
Decision Sciences and Battelle have teamed to pursue a possible procurement opportunity with DHS’s Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) relating to trans-shipment and direct-to-rail radiation detection equipment and operations, and further to develop Decision Sciences’s Multi-Mode Passive Detection System, MMPDSTM, into an operational and deployable system.
Building on work by Decision Sciences and Los Alamos National Laboratory on muon tomography and gamma ray detection applications, Decision Sciences and Battelle plan to collaborate to produce a multi-mode system capable of detecting nuclear materials across the complete threat spectrum, including shielded and unshielded nuclear materials.
“Our completely passive multi-mode system provides ‘Defense in Depth’ for cargo and passenger vehicle security,” said Robert Whalen, president and CEO of Decision Sciences. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to team with a world-class institute such as Battelle to advance our homeland’s security.”
About muons
Muons are subatomic particles created in the Earth’s upper atmosphere as a result of interactions with cosmic rays. They are the natural result of decayed pions and kaons and are part of normal background radiation. They continuously rain down upon the Earth. Each minute of every day 10,000 muons per square meter fall to the Earth and harmlessly penetrate everything in their path.
