Isotopic noble gas signatures released from medical isotope production facilities—Simulations and measurements

Saey, Paul R. J.; Bowyer, Theodore W.; Ringbom, Anders

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2010.04.014

Cited by 73 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Therefore, the occurrence of a significant increase in atmospheric levels of radioxenon cannot be assumed after a test. Moreover, it has been observed that due to radioactive decay and chaining, the indicative "fingerprint" formed by the four radioxenon isotopes, 131 Xe, 133 Xe, 133m Xe and 135 Xe, after the detonation, degrades and becomes indistinguishable from the MIPF emissions, which are the most influential [1]. Together, these factors work to conceal the source (industrial or detonation) of the measured radioxenon, when considered within the standard feature-space.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Motivating the inclusion of meteorological indicators in the CTBT feature-space

Bellinger

Japkowicz

2011

2011 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence for Security and Defense Applications (CISDA)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract-Verification of the Comprehensive Test-Ban-Treaty (CTBT), as a Pattern Recognition (PR) problem, has been proposed based on four radioxenon features. It has been noted, however, that in many cases this limited feature set is insufficient to distinguish radioxenon levels effected by an explosion from those that are solely products of industrial activities. As a means of improving the detectability of low-yield clandestine nuclear explosions, this paper motivates the inclusion of meteorological indicators in the CTBT feature-space, promotes further research into which meteorological indicators are most informative, and how they may be acquired. In doing so, we present classification results from four simulated scenarios. These results demonstrate that the inclusion of a simple wind direction feature can significantly increase the prospect of classifying challenging detonation events, and suggests the predictive power of meteorological features in general.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Motivating the inclusion of meteorological indicators in the CTBT feature-space

Bellinger

Japkowicz

2011

2011 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence for Security and Defense Applications (CISDA)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In particular, the fission gases of radioxenon are produced and released into the environment, causing detection in monitoring networks. Because radioxenon is a key indicator of nuclear testing (12,13), these emissions are interfering with treaty monitoring operations connected with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and considerations of a future Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty (14). Reductions in radioxenon emissions are being sought to minimize or eliminate their impact on nuclear monitoring systems (12).…”

Section: Us Government Development Plansmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversification in the Supply Chain of ⁹⁹Mo Ensures a Future for ^99mTc

Cutler

Schwarz

2014

J Nucl Med

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The uncertain availability of 99m Tc has become a concern for nuclear medicine departments across the globe. An issue for the United States is that currently it is dependent on a supply of 99m Tc (from 99 Mo) that is derived solely by production outside the United States. Since the United States uses half the world's 99 Mo production, the U.S. 99 Mo supply chain would be greatly enhanced if a producer were located within the United States. The fragility of the old 99 Mo supply chain is being addressed as new facilities are constructed and new processes are developed to produce 99 Mo without highly enriched uranium. The conversion to low-enriched uranium is necessary to minimize the potential misuse of highly enriched uranium in the world for nonpeaceful means. New production facilities, new methods for the production of 99 Mo, and a new generator elution system for the supply of 99m Tc are currently being pursued. The progress made in all these areas will be discussed, as they all highlight the need to embrace diversity to ensure that we have a robust and reliable supply of 99m Tc in the future.

show abstract

“…NRU and HFR produce about one-third each of the world's supply of radiopharmaceuticals. HFR uses an alkaline process for dissolving the uranium targets instead of an acid process, which produces much less radioxenon than the NRU (Saey et al 2010b;Sameh and Ache 1987). Tc for use in a wide variety of medical diagnostic procedures.…”

Section: Medical Isotope Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Categorization of Radioxenon

Keller¹

2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Executive SummaryThis report summarizes a study into some false positive issues in the use of radioxenon as a method to verify a clandestine nuclear weapons explosion. False positives arise due to similarities between the radioxenon signature generated in medical isotope production and that generated in a nuclear weapon explosion. This report also discusses how to categorize the radioxenon by levels of urgency for manual analysis and interpretation and recommends applying machine learning and time series analysis techniques in the automation of radioxenon characterization. The literature indicates that medical isotope production is a major contributor to atmospheric radioxenon and is the main source of confusion in determining the source of radioxenon. While radioxenon emissions from nuclear power plants can be distinguished from that from nuclear weapon explosions, emissions from medical isotope production generate signatures similar to certain nuclide ratios found in nuclear weapons explosions. Different techniques for analyzing nuclide concentrations and ratios as well as including other sensing modalities via sensor fusion are discussed.

show abstract

Isotopic noble gas signatures released from medical isotope production facilities—Simulations and measurements

Cited by 73 publications

References 12 publications

Motivating the inclusion of meteorological indicators in the CTBT feature-space

Motivating the inclusion of meteorological indicators in the CTBT feature-space

Diversification in the Supply Chain of ⁹⁹Mo Ensures a Future for ^99mTc

Categorization of Radioxenon

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Isotopic noble gas signatures released from medical isotope production facilities—Simulations and measurements

Cited by 73 publications

References 12 publications

Motivating the inclusion of meteorological indicators in the CTBT feature-space

Motivating the inclusion of meteorological indicators in the CTBT feature-space

Diversification in the Supply Chain of 99Mo Ensures a Future for 99mTc

Categorization of Radioxenon

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Diversification in the Supply Chain of ⁹⁹Mo Ensures a Future for ^99mTc