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Nuclear weapons and terrorists: a deadly combination
Portable device can detect illegal caches
January 16, 1997
Web posted at: 7:20 p.m. EST
An expanded Web version of segments seen on CNN
From Correspondent Ann Kellan
(CNN) -- The specter of terrorists wielding nuclear weapons is a nightmare security experts hope never comes true. However across the globe, immense stockpiles of poorly secured plutonium and uranium are keeping anti-terrorist specialists awake at night after several recent discoveries.
Radioactive cesium hidden by Chechen rebels was uncovered in a Moscow park, a briefcase of radioactive material was found in a smuggler's car in Czechoslovakia and, on the German border, a car searched by a Geiger counter yielded a cache of uranium from the former Soviet Union.
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Vivo movieNuclear terrorism
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Vivo's technical FAQ "If a terrorist group does obtain nuclear materials and they have the expertise to fabricate and improvise devices, I think that would probably be the most significant challenge facing Western civilization ever," said Terry Hawkins with the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
The lab has developed a portable device that can be used in the field to spot nuclear material in unauthorized places.
The suitcase-sized instrument uses sophisticated detection methods to locate tiny amounts of plutonium and uranium. It is a smaller, self-contained version of a lab instrument called a mass spectrometer.
In the United States, nuclear bombs and other radioactive materials are locked up tight. America is now sharing resources and technology with Russia and new nations, such as Kazakhstan, to help them with their nuclear security problems.
Despite fears of nuclear terrorism, international agreements and highly trained task forces have so far held the threat at bay. None of the thefts have involved large amounts of bomb-grade compounds.
Gulf War highlighted the problem
The anti-terrorism community got its first wake-up call after the Persian Gulf War. The remnants of a secret nuclear program were discovered in the deserts of Iraq, beginning with the finding of suspicious green crystals.
"From a knowledge of nuclear chemistry, they knew they were probably uranium tetrachloride but they had no idea of the actual composition," said Los Alamos scientist Jose Olivares. "It took about two to three months for that actual composition to be determined. And that's where the need for a field portable-type instrument came from."
Olivares is an expert on how the portable mass spectrometer works to identify a compound and its level of radioactivity.
Extra video not seen on CNN: (872K/119 sec. QuickTime movie) Olivares demonstrates the operation of
the portable mars specrometerHe and other scientists hope the device will be used in airports and police stations around the world to help authorities nab nuclear terrorists.
Related sites:
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- Los Alamos National Laboratory
The main goal of the Los Alamos National Laboratory is to provide the technical technical foundation to decrease the global nuclear danger and to ensure a more secure future for the nation.- Inorganic Trace Analysis:
The main purpose of the CST-9 technical group is to measure trace levels of constituents by using both traditional analytical methods and new instrumental methods.External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
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