Problem Statement
Rapid determination of weapon characteristics is essential following a nuclear burst. This work will facilitate understanding of the fissile materials in the weapon using post-detonation measurements.
Technical Approach
•Estimate pre-detonation fissile material composition using post-detonation gamma spectroscopic analysis.
•Evaluate fallout field using field-deployable instruments
•Employ Inverse radiation transport—selecting optimal computational models by regression of model outputs with gamma spectroscopic measurements, including effects of:
−Burnup and decay of fission products
−Gamma source terms and transport
−Detector response functions
•Build on previous work to apply inverse radiation transport to fresh, bulk SNM
Benefit
•Extend current techniques to account for burnup and decay
•Assess prototypical field-deployable instruments