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North Korea argues it had no plan to enrich uranium for weapons
Another potential embarrassment for U.S. intelligence: North Korea says it will prove that it never had the plans or the means to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons
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NIST shows tiny sensor with biomedical, homeland security applications
Tiny sensor can detect magnetic field changes as small as 70 femtoteslas — equivalent to the brain waves of a person daydreaming; in addition to medical uses, sensor may be deployed in airport screening for explosives based on detection of nuclear quadrupole resonance in nitrogen compounds
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ICx delivers underwater radiation detection devices
The Coast Guard is bolstering its ability to detect underwater smuggling of nuclear materials into the U.S.; one way to do so is to equip the service with ICx’s identiFINDER-U
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U.S., Mongolia in nuclear smuggling agreement
The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has equipped more than 160 sites — ports, border crossings — around the world with nuclear radiation detection equipment; Mongolia’s airports, border crossings are added to the list
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Investigation into Italian mafia's trafficking of nuclear waste
Italian authorities are investigating charges that the Mafia was paid by the national nuclear research center to dispose of nuclear waste; informer says Mafia bought plutonium from the center and sold it to Iraq in the 1980s
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Worldwide Nuclear Power
For the last twenty years, nuclear power has provided about 16% of the world’s power needs; renewed interest in nuclear energy — energy
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NRC seeks public comments on reactor oversight
As interest in nuclear power is revived, more application for building reactors come in — after a lull of more than two decades nearly; the NRC wants the public to comment on reactor oversight
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Satellite images show early stages of Syrian nuclear reactor
On 6 September Israel stealthily destroyed a target deep inside Syria; examination of satellite images taken of the site before it was destroyed leads independent experts to conclude that Syria might have been building a gas-graphite reactor of about 20 to 25 megawatts, similar to the reactor North Korea built at Yongbyon
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DHS to inspect small boats, private jets
DHS is turning its attention to better screening of private boats and planes entering the U.S.; small boat inspection to begin with a pilot program in San Diego
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Nation states, not only terrorist organizations, consider dirty bombs
Six decades ago the U.S. seriously considered including radiological weapons (“dirty bombs”) in its arsenal; Syria and Iran are doing so today; U.S. should have a dirty-bomb nonproliferation policy
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DHS awards $33 million for radiation detection demonstrations
DHS wants a tehcnology which will be able to detect radiation from a distance — and determine the direction, flux, energy, and isotope of the detected radiation; three companies win the Stand-Off Radiation Detector System (SORDS) demonstration contracts
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UC Berkeley to examine new methods of screening for nuclear materials
The Academic Research Initiative, a new DHS-NSF project, give a UC Berekeley scientists $1.4 million to develop new methods for screening for nuclear materials
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DHS funds nuclear training
One-third of the current U.S. nuclear workforce will reach retirement in the next ten years; DHS joins with NSF to foster the training of the next generation of nuclear workers
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Smiths, GE call off JV
Smiths and GE thought that bringing their considerable detection know-how and assets together in a JV would create a mighty player in homeland security; but Smiths’s detection unit has been doing very well on its own, so the rationale for a JV was no longer as compelling
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Bruker in Phase III of automatic, unattended chemical detector
DHS awards Bruker $1.3 follow-on Phase III contract for the Autonomous Rapid Facility Chemical Agent Monitor project
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The long view
Keeping the Lights on with Nuclear Waste: Radiochemistry Transforms Nuclear Waste into Strategic Materials
How UNLV radiochemistry is pioneering the future of energy in the Southwest by salvaging strategic materials from nuclear dumps –and making it safe.
Model Predicts Long-Term Effects of Nuclear Waste on Underground Disposal Systems
The simulations matched results from an underground lab experiment in Switzerland, suggesting modeling could be used to validate the safety of nuclear disposal sites.