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Professor David Morton at The University of Texas at Austin has received $1.9 million to expand a computer model that is already helping guide national decisions about placement of devices to detect nuclear smuggling attempts. These detectors are needed in Russia and nearby countries, where nearly 300 nuclear smuggling attempts have occurred since 1995. |
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Photo at left: Morton and his colleagues consider a European map used to visualize potential routes of nuclear smugglers. With the grant from the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office of the Department of Homeland Security, Morton (left) and fellow mechanical engineering faculty will spend five years expanding his computer model for radiation detector placements based on detailed information about smuggling scenarios and models of smugglers’ strategic behavior. Assistant Professor Erich Schneider (center) will build the computer model’s description of the nuclear material being smuggled and radiation detectors' recognition of concealed material. Associate Professor Elmira Popova (right) will provide probability calculations, and run computer simulations to test the computer model.
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Los Alamos National Laboratory uses the computer model David Morton (left) and a former graduate student developed to help prioritize radiation sensor installations in Russia and nearby countries, which have insufficient security for stores of nuclear weapons material and radioactive material. Morton is developing a related computer model to guide other decisions, such as the capital-improvement projects to consider at a Texas nuclear power plant, and how best to expand wildlife areas. |
