• HAZARDOUS DUSTWhen the Dust Settles: Researchers Measure How Everyday Activity Spreads Hazardous Dust

    By Marguerite Huber

    Argonne researchers study the movement of dust particles from concrete surfaces during a simulated radiological contamination scenario, measuring how pedestrians and moving cars affect the spread of the particles.

  • PORTABLE SECURITYRapidly Testing Portable Security Systems

    Sandia National Laboratories led a field exercise designed to test rapidly deployable security technologies in rugged, remote conditions. The challenge was not just whether a drone could be detected by radar or whether a sensor could spot movement across rough terrain. The bigger question was whether all that information could move through a portable security system fast enough to help people make decisions in the field.

  • NUCLEAR WASTEConcrete Waste from Nuclear Sites Could Help Lock Away Radioactive Strontium for the Long Term

    Crushed concrete from legacy nuclear facilities could play a far greater role in safely managing radioactive land than previously understood.

  • UNDERSEA SENSORSGoing Dark: Why Dismantling America’s Ocean Sensors Is a Security Risk

    By Erin Sikorsky

    Starting this month, the National Science Foundation (NSF) began pulling more than 900 deep-sea instruments out of the water, dismantling most of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), a network of moorings and seafloor sensors that streams continuous, real-time data on the physical, chemical, and biological state of the Atlantic and Pacific. The network was built to run for 25 years. It will not make it to ten. This is a national security story as much as a science story.

  • DETECTIONTechnologies for Identifying Deepfakes, Cyberattacks and Drone Threats

    Artificial intelligence, advanced sensor technologies and immersive simulation are opening new possibilities for law enforcement and public security agencies.

  • MISSILESA Web of Sensors: How the U.S. Spots Missiles and Drones from Iran

    By Aaron Brynildson

    U.S. military presence near Iran includes dozens of locations and tens of thousands of troops in harm’s way. This raises the question: If a missile is launched from Iran toward a U.S. military base in the region, how do service members know in time to stay safe?

  • NUCLEAR SAFETYDOGE Goes Nuclear: How Trump Invited Silicon Valley Into America’s Nuclear Power Regulator

    By Avi Asher-Schapiro

    The Trump administration has been particularly aggressive in its attacks on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the bipartisan independent regulator that approves commercial nuclear power plants and monitors their safety. The agency is not a household name. But it’s considered the international gold standard, often influencing safety rules around the world.

  • RADIATION DETECTIONQuickly and Precisely Localizing Radioactive Material

    Radioactive, chemical or biological substances are undetectable to humans in threatening situations and difficult to detect with remote sensing. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing and Ergonomics FKIE use specially equipped drones and robots to quickly and precisely localize radioactive sources.

  • NUCLEAR SAFETYHow Hollywood-Style “Break in” Rooms Are Securing the Future of Nuclear

    By Sarah Lusk

    Security is paramount for the nation’s current fleet of light water reactors, but the stakes for small modular reactors are especially high. Small modular reactors promise quicker build timelines and lower operating costs than light water reactors. They achieve these enhancements through better designs, higher levels of automation and smaller operating crews. But those same design choices could expand the opportunity for cyber and insider threats.

  • NUCLEAR RISKSSmall Modular Reactors and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

    By Abhishek Verma

    Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are widely heralded as the next major leap in civilian nuclear energy. Beneath this optimism, however, lies a growing unease within the nuclear policy community relating to the nuclear weapons proliferation and safeguards challenges that SMRs pose to the existing global nuclear governance system.

  • NUCLEAR SAFETYProtecting Next-Gen Reactors

    By Sarah Lusk

    As the United States accelerates deployment of advanced and small modular reactors (A/SMRs), the nuclear energy sector is embracing a digital future. While digital systems provide operators with big benefits, they can also create vulnerabilities that enable criminals to access critical infrastructure.

  • NUCLEAR WASTELANL Waste Containers Successfully Depressurized

    Technicians successfully completed the depressurization of four flanged tritium waste containers and moved them to a waste staging location on site. The containers were placed in temporary storage in 2007. Over the years, pressure gradually built in the containers. Alleviating that pressure was necessary to safely prepare them for eventual shipment offsite.

  • AIRPORT SECURITYWalk-Through Screening System Enhances Security at Airports Nationwide

    By Ariana Tantillo

    A new security screener that people can simply walk past may soon be coming to an airport near you. Last year, U.S. airports nationwide began adopting HEXWAVE to satisfy a new Transportation Security Administration (TSA) mandate for enhanced employee screening to detect metallic and nonmetallic threats.

  • IGNORING DISASTERSRefinery Fires, Other Chemical Disasters May No Longer Get Safety Investigations

    By Philip Steenstra, Rachel O’Brien, and Stuart Batterman

    The typically thorough investigative process of chemical disasters, conducted by the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), will not happen in the case of the October 2025 disaster at a Chevron refinery in El Segundo, California, because of the federal government shutdown and lack of funding for the organization. The CSB will be eliminated entirely under the proposed 2026 federal budget, raising the risk of more, and more serious, chemical disasters, not just in the U.S. but around the world.

  • RDIOLOGICAL THREATSU.S. Army Taps INL’s Nuclear Expertise, Capabilities to Strengthen Radiological Response and Readiness

    The mission of the U.S. Army’s Nuclear Disablement Team (NDT) is to disable potential enemies’nuclear capabilities. INL’s experts help train NDT team members for that mission.