Nuclear Forensics: How Science Helps Stop the Trafficking of Nuclear Materials - 2020

Uranium (Nuclear Minerals) / Exploration, Mining, Marketing, & Acquisitions

Eppich reported in 2020 that nuclear forensics is an essential activity in support of national counter-nuclear smuggling operations, as it can be used to provide unique and useful data to law enforcement for the prosecution of criminal nuclear smugglers and traffickers. Nuclear forensics can also be used to determine the origin of nuclear materials that have fallen out of regulatory control, allowing for the identification of weaknesses and vulnerabilities in the safeguarding of nuclear materials, while also generating a deterrent effect through attribution to the legal and responsible owners of nuclear materials out
of regulatory control.

The author describes the benefits of a nuclear forensics capability to any country in possession of nuclear materials and describes how nuclear forensics can support an investigation into the origin of interdicted nuclear materials, using a case study of a nuclear materials interdiction in Australia to describe how nuclear forensics works in practice.

This case demonstrates the transnational nature of nuclear smuggling and trafficking, and the critical role that nuclear forensics can play in addressing it. The ability to trace the origins of nuclear materials that have fallen out of governmental controls is an important arrow in the quiver for counter-nuclear smuggling operations. Nuclear forensic analysis can provide critical support to law enforcement and is a core constituent of the spectrum of capabilities
used by nations to deter the smuggling and trafficking of nuclear materials in and through their countries. All countries should continue to develop their nuclear forensics capabilities to an extent commensurate with specific nuclear security concerns in their region.

As nuclear smuggling and trafficking remains a transnational problem, nuclear security must remain a global effort, and continued partnerships in nuclear forensic analysis remain the cornerstone for effective and efficient countermeasures to the threat posed to humanity by lost or stolen nuclear materials falling into the hands of those who would do harm.