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Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Nuclear forensics - An important tool


Illicit trafficking of radioactive or nuclear material is of great concern internationally due to its potential application by terrorist groups. Nuclear forensics examination is the analysis of nuclear and other radioactive materials to identify the sources and support national or international legal issues related to nuclear security.
In general, national or international laws prohibit unauthorized or illegal movement or transport of nuclear or radioactive materials across national borders. The smuggled radioactive material and which is out of the regulatory control can be misused in nuclear crimes.
The materials seized in such situations need to be examined by dedicated laboratories to support the law enforcement authorities for prosecution of a breach in the security of such materials. Sensitive measurement techniques will be necessary to analyze small to very small amounts of the sample. The radioactive material may be in the form of loose contamination. Techniques such as gamma spectrometry, clinical forensic medicine to detect radiation exposure specific injuries, etc.
It is also important to identify the material using validated procedures, identify the origin of the material and the potential hazard of its use in the public domain or in any other illegal activities. The results provide evidence which is necessary for successful prosecution.
National regulatory authorities and international bodies such as IAEA are much concerned about this illegal trafficking of the material. The IAEA Nuclear and Security Series bring together details, including technical characterization of the seized material samples using technical tools and the procedures adopted in nuclear forensics.
IAEA, Advances in nuclear forensics countering the evolving threat of nuclear and other radioactive the material out of regulatory control, STI/PUB/1706 [ISBN:978-92-0-104815-8], 2015.

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