Estimating discharged plutonium using measurements of structural material activation products

As the US and Russia move to lower numbers of deployed nuclear weapons, transparency regarding the quantity of weapons usable fissile material available in each country may become more important. In some cases detailed historical information regarding material production at individual facilities may be incomplete or not readily available, e.g., at decommissioned facilities. In such cases tools may be needed to produce estimates of aggregate material production as part of a bilateral agreement. Such measurement techniques could also provide increased confidence in declared production quantities.