Award Data

The complexity of Atmospheric Transport and Dispersion (ATD) modeling requires physically consistent weather data evolving in both space and time. Spatially and/or temporally averaged data found in climatological products is not suitable for ATD modeling. The proposed solution for providing "typical day" meteorological data couples innovative search techniques applied to long-range historical arch ...

Active interrogation holds the most promise for detecting heavily shielded materials at a distance. This effort will use pulsed neutron excitation of fission reactions in the target being inspected in conjunction with an imaging detector. Special nuclear material (SNM) that is present will undergo fission reactions that generate prompt and delayed neutrons which will be emitted by the target. Th ...

The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear missiles and “dirty bombs” are a serious threat in the world today and especially to the well-being of the United States. Preventing the spread of these nuclear weapons has reached a state of heightened urgency in recent years, more so since the events on September 11, 2001 and its aftermath. The presence of nuclear weapons can ...

High-resolution scintillation crystals and crystal arrays are important components of current and future handheld and arrayed detectors (used for DOD applications) and scintillation spectrometers (routinely used in high energy physics research, medical imaging, diffraction, homeland security, nuclear waste clean-up, nuclear treaty verification and safeguards, and geological exploration). Unfortun ...

Recent advances in scintillator materials research have resulted in the development of lanthanum halides detectors. These detectors offer improved energy resolution, faster emission and excellent temperature dependency and linearity characteristics. However, the lanthanum halides crystals have not yet been grown to preferred large sizes. Moreover, this material possesses a fatal drawback of being ...

"Reflex triode bremsstrahlung sources potentially provide warm X-ray sources (20 keV to 500 keV), capable of generating high doses (~10 cal/g gold) over exposure areas of ~20 cm2. This needed capability allows experimental verification of warm X-ray inducedthermomechanical response, SGEMP, and box IEMP models for achieving component and system certification to hostile environments.In a reflex trio ...

"Reflex triode bremsstrahlung sources potentially provide warm X-ray sources (20 keV to 500 keV), capable of generating high doses (~10 cal/g gold) over exposure areas of ~20 cm2. This needed capability allows experimental verification of warm X-ray inducedthermomechanical response, SGEMP, and box IEMP models for achieving component and system certification to hostile environments.In a reflex trio ...

"Nuclear Weapons Effects Tests (NWET) frequently require that the test article be irradiated in an ultra-clean environment, making survivable shields a necessary part of many debris systems. Survivable shields as large as 12 inches in diameter are requiredbut have yet to be demonstrated in Plasma Radiating Source (PRS) environments. The loads on a survivable shield are a combination of radiation i ...

"Measurements of fluence from a Plasma Radiation Source (PRS) are critical to the performance of accurate Nuclear Weapon Effects (NWE) experiments. Fast, total stopping calorimeters have been demonstrated to provide a robust, reusable, economic sensor forfluence measurements. However, the output of these sensors is a few millivolts and thus high signal to noise recording is difficult to achieve, ...

Future efforts to verify arms control agreements will require new technologies that are self-contained and man-portable. Potable power will, of course, be needed to energize and maintain this equipment in an unattended mode. Fuel cells offer the bestalternative for these power requirements, because of their high energy and power density. Unfortunately, there is no current fuel cell technology t ...