FY2010 Annual Report for the Actinide Isomer Detection Project

This project seeks to identify a new signature for actinide element detection in active interrogation. This technique works by exciting and identifying long-lived nuclear excited states (isomers) in the actinide isotopes and/or primary fission products. Observation of isomers in the fission products will provide a signature for fissile material. For the actinide isomers, the decay time and energy of the isomeric state is unique to a particular isotope, providing an unambiguous signature for Special Nuclear Materials (SNM). Future work will include a follow-up measurement scheduled for December 2010 at LBNL. Lessons learned from the July 2010 measurements will be incorporated into these new measurements. Analysis of both the July and December experiments will be completed in a few months. A research paper to be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal will be drafted if the conclusions from the measurements warrant publication