Appendix G
MDV at the Department of Energy National Laboratories
Several Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories currently conduct or historically conducted monitoring, detection, and verification (MDV) research and development (R&D), funded by DOE, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), and other national security agencies. The capabilities of these laboratories overlap in many technical areas, but each laboratory has areas of technical distinction that underpin the support to the MDV mission. The key contributions of five of these laboratories to the MDV mission are briefly outlined here.1
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) advances proliferation detection for monitoring (e.g., radiation detector materials, neutron imagery and fusion with gamma signatures, antineutrino detection) and detection (e.g., characterization of material production and weapons development processes, innovative nuclear material characterization, and use of Next-Gen Artificial Intelligence to provide scalable integration of all available data in the context of physics and process models to enhance early detection of proliferation activities). Over the decades, LLNL’s ground-based nuclear test explosion detection R&D has made significant contributions to national and international capabilities for physics-based modeling to improve sensitivity, augmented by field experiments to improve and validate models. LLNL experts have had long-term leadership roles in the international development of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) International Monitoring System and On-Site Inspection capabilities. Implementation of U.S. verification obligations include the United Nations Special Commission
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1 Summaries include information provided to the committee from each of the listed laboratories on September 8, 2020.
and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) verification teams in Iraq and North Korea, U.S.-Russia HEU Transparency material monitoring, and technical contributors to the development of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The National Ignition Facility and High Performance Computing Facility offer unique opportunities for R&D and test beds.
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) applies its mission of strategic nuclear deterrence to nonproliferation and arms control in three general areas: nuclear detonation and test detection, signatures of nuclear proliferation, and safeguards/arms control verification. The nuclear test explosion detection work provides science and technology for space-based sensors and R&D for underground seismic R&D programs. The nuclear weapons expertise is leveraged to aid in the detection and characterization of foreign nuclear material production and weapons development. A wide range of support is conducted for the IAEA safeguards mission including specialized training over 50 years. As with the other NNSA laboratories, LANL is active in the development of arms control verification and in the collaboration with international partners. Data analytics, authentication, and protection are a particular focus. The Safeguards Training facility, Plutonium Processing Facility, Sigma metallurgy and Manufacturing Facility, and Dual Axis Radiographic HydroTest Facility are used as test beds for R&D and workshop development.
Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) has a long history of contribution and active programs in nuclear detonation and nuclear explosive test detection, and preventing nuclear use and proliferation. For nuclear detonation detection, Sandia conducts R&D, delivers satellite optical sensors, and provides technology to the ground station system for the U.S. Nuclear Detonation Detection System (USNDS). Sandia’s unique radiation hardened microfabrication capabilities, state-of-the-art focal plane array designs, and ability to understand unique detonation signatures are key to its contributions to USNDS. For underground nuclear explosive test detection, Sandia is modernizing the National Data Center in collaboration with the Air Force and conducts research in the laboratory and at an outdoor test facility to detect low-yield or evasively conducted tests. To prevent nuclear use and proliferation, Sandia develops new radiation detection equipment and tags and seals for current and future arms control treaties, and actively tests new ideas in U.S. sponsored exercises with international partners. For proliferation detection, Sandia has developed chemical and electromagnetic detection and modeling tools for facility monitoring, and has provided training for IAEA inspectors for decades.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has comprehensive nuclear fuel cycle expertise and facilities that are leveraged for the MDV mission, especially for MDV of the nuclear fuel cycle. The co-located isotope production reactor
(HFIR) and hot cell processing facility (REDC) are a national test bed that is being utilized to develop new approaches to characterize operations using multiple external signal modalities and declared operations data. ORNL has a particular focus on uranium science, and has expertise and capabilities for meteorological fate and transport and ultra-trace analytical chemistry. ORNL also has computational prowess, which is leveraged for the MDV mission through the modeling and simulation of reactors and gas centrifuge enrichment and through the development of new advanced analytic techniques.
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has cutting-edge capabilities in nuclear material measurements at very low concentrations that are applied to proliferation monitoring. The Shallow Underground Laboratory houses some of the world’s most sensitive radiation detection systems supports to support treaty verification. In the Ultra-Sensitive Measurements Laboratory in the Shallow Underground Laboratory, low-background measurements are made on a variety of samples, addressing applications that span from environmental age-dating to verifying compliance with the CTBT. PNNL also focuses on the application of decision science and uncertainty analysis for nonproliferation risk. Programs in computational science support MDV in expanding capabilities in visual analytics and exploratory data analysis working with high-volume data and signature discovery algorithms. They are pioneering efforts in virtual environments and cyber-physical security. PNNL has taken training the next generation in nuclear material processing, particularly of plutonium, as one of its strategic focus areas.
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