Global Security Newswire

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory said on Tuesday that scientists have for the first time produced a plastic that could be used in radiation detectors for differentiating potential nuclear-weapon materials from harmless substances (see GSN, Sept. 16, 2011).

While plastics have long been employed in radiation detection systems, they have not been able to detect the difference between neutrons and gamma rays. Such a capability would be key to specifically determining the presence of uranium or plutonium, according to a press release from the California research facility.

"By studying mixed crystals and mixed liquids, we found that to achieve neutron discrimination from gamma rays, we had to increase the dye concentration in the plastics by at least tenfold greater than would typically be used," materials scientist Natalia Zaitseva said in released comments.

"We see our work as being at the beginning. We're excited about where our research is heading," added Zaitseva, head author of a paper on the research that was published online last month in the journal Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research.

The laboratory is currently in talks with two firms in hopes of making the inexpensive material available for sale (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory release, Jan. 11).

Zaitseva said the plastic material could be featured in sheet form for large-scale detectors covering roadways, seaports, and other cargo-transit passages, along with smaller systems that could be carried by individuals, Newsday reported on Tuesday.

"With al-Qaeda's stated objective of obtaining nuclear weapons to use against the West, it is welcome news that Lawrence Livermore has made this breakthrough," New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in a prepared statement.

"If viable, this will be a great technology and could allow detectors that are smaller and lighter weight," added nuclear terrorism issue specialist Stuart Cameron, who leads the special patrol branch of the Suffolk County Police Department in New York.

The two jurisdictions are involved in the Securing the Cities program, which aims to form a ring of radiation detectors in and around New York City.

Cameron lauded the timing of the announcement, given that there are limited amounts of a helium gas featured in existing radiation sensing systems.

The Livermore plastic would not be able to identify lower-level radioactive materials that could be used in a radiological "dirty bomb," the newspaper reported. Kelly has said that a terrorist nuclear strike on New York City is less probable on than an attack involving a dirty bomb, which would use conventional explosives to disperse radioactive materials (Anthony Destefano, Newsday, Jan. 10).