Scientists to Develop Nuclear Weapons Detectors

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Penn State University has received a $5 million, 5-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and DHS for nuclear threat inspection, as part of a team led by MIT and Georgia Tech.

A Penn State University release reports that the proposal, titled “Low-Dose Inspection for Nuclear Threats Using Monochromatic Gamma-Rays,” is being led at Penn State by co-principal investigators Igor Jovanovic, the Bashore Faculty Development Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Zoubeida Ounaies, the Dorothy Quiggle Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering. Cory Trivelpiece, a research associate at the Materials Research Institute, is also part of the effort.

iHLS – Israel Homeland Security

The grant stems from the DHS and NSF Academic Research Initiative focusing on domestic nuclear detection, and is the only large multidisciplinary grant this program awarded to universities in the past five years.

The program is designed to develop new systems and sensors that will help detect nuclear weapons, special nuclear materials, radiation dispersal devices, and related threats.

“As part of this collaborative research with MIT and Georgia Tech, Penn State will design, build and test novel composite detectors capable of discriminating among different types of radiation. We will also participate in integrated experimental campaigns at the MIT accelerator facility, with a goal to perform better inspections for special nuclear materials while simultaneously reducing the radiation dose,” Jovanovic said.