Nuclear Forensics at Los Alamos National Laboratory

The overview of this presentation is: (1) Introduction to nonproliferation efforts; (2) Scope of activities at Los Alamos National Laboratory; (3) Facilities for radioanalytical work at LANL; (4) Radiochemical characterization capabilities; and (5) Bulk chemical and materials analysis capabilities. Some conclusions are: (1) Analytical chemistry measurements on plutonium and uranium matrices are critical to numerous defense and non-defense programs including safeguards accountancy verification measurements; (2) Los Alamos National Laboratory operates capable actinide analytical chemistry and material science laboratories suitable for nuclear material forensic characterization; (3) Actinide analytical chemistry uses numerous means to validate and independently verify that measurement data quality objectives are met; and (4) Numerous LANL nuclear facilities support the nuclear material handling, preparation, and analysis capabilities necessary to evaluate samples containing nearly any mass of an actinide (attogram to kilogram levels).