An Overview of Comprehensive Inspection Technologies Under Investigation at Legacy Underground Nuclear Test Sites
Abstract
Comprehensive Inspection Technologies (CIT) under investigation include methods that might be of use in detecting a clandestine underground nuclear test. These include techniques for detecting noble gases, visual observation methods, hyperspectral imaging, controlled- and passive-source seismic surveys, and other geophysical methods. Noble gas detection studies include a series of experiments called the Noble Gas Migration (NGM) experiments, that explore the fundamental parameters that determine the capability to detect radioxenon isotopes and 37Ar produced in underground nuclear tests. These isotopes are of interest to both the International Monitoring System (IMS) global monitoring and On-Site Inspection (OSI) regimes. Through a unique combination of field experiments, sampling of radioactive noble gas from a legacy underground nuclear test, large-scale hydrogeologic computer simulations, and a regimen involving carefully designed field-sampling techniques, the experiments are providing information about the production, release, and sampling challenges that determine the ability to detect these two important noble gases. Other CIT experiments explore and validate geophysical (controlled-source and passive-source seismic, gravity, electrical, magnetic, etc.) and optical techniques (both visual and instrument-based) that greatly enhance the understanding of the efficiency of these techniques for OSI, including how to better integrate the various technologies with each other and individually at different physical scales. This work was done by National Security Technologies, LLC, under Contract No. DE-AC52-06NA25946 with the U.S. Department of Energy. DOE/NV/25936--1840.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AGUFM.S33B2416C
- Keywords:
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- 7219 SEISMOLOGY Seismic monitoring and test-ban treaty verification