Groups

Nonproliferation & Safeguards Group

The Nonproliferation and Safeguards Division (NSD) supports efforts to ensure that the essential ingredients of nuclear, radiological, and chemical weapons do not become available to terrorists or States attempting to develop weapons of mass destruction.  This work is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration; the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; the U.S. Department of State; the U.S. Department of Defense; international agencies, especially the International Atomic Energy Agency; and local jurisdictions.  Projects in which NSD staff have been engaged include:

• Enhance the inspection training and safeguards implementation at gas centrifuge and uranium ore conversion facilities.
• Help implement the International Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol in the U.S.
• Review and suggest improvements for future International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards regimes at nuclear power plants.
• Supporting and monitoring permanent and irreversible elimination of weapon-usable nuclear and radiological materials through international cooperative programs.
• Reducing the threat posed by weapons-usable nuclear material by cooperating with Russia Nuclear Institutes to install sustainable physical security and accountancy upgrades appropriate for the level of material attractiveness and the threat of theft. Recent efforts have focused on developing and installing MPC&A operational monitoring systems for selected nuclear facilities.
• Leading domestic efforts to examine the security of nuclear, radiological sources and chemical agents to ensure that they are not diverted and used for terrorism.
• Helping U.S. cities develop strategies to identify the presence of smuggled nuclear or radiological weapons for interdiction purposes, and consequence management strategies should interdiction efforts fail.

For more information please contact Colin Carroll, at 631-344-8951 ccarroll@bnl.gov 

Nonproliferation and Homeland Security Field Support Group

This group focuses on development, calibration, deployment and testing of radiation detectors for nonproliferation, treaty verification and homeland security applications.

The group tests and evaluates commercial as well as laboratory prototype radiation detectors at the BNL Radiation Detector Test and Evaluation Center (RADTEC) under funding from the Department of Homeland Security.  BNL has constructed a test facility (RADTEC) that allows the assembly and testing of commercial off-the-shelf technologies (COTS) and government off-the-shelf technologies (GOTS).  This group supports the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Countermeasures Test Bed (CMTB), providing baseline data for protection against known radiation sources.  The purpose of CMTB is to assess the feasibility, cost and usefulness of deploying radiation or nuclear-material detectors for either the interdiction or consequence management scenarios for homeland security.  Major efforts are also carried out to support the maintenance and calibration of a variety of radiation detectors deployed in the New York Metropolitan area by law enforcement agencies.

Radiological Assistance Program

Provides DOE/NNSA radiological assistance, upon request, to other Federal agencies; state, tribal, and local governments; and to private groups and individuals for incidents through Regional Response Coordinators in each of the nice regions. BNL's RAP Team handles Region 1. RAP goals are to be fully mobilized within two hours of notification and arrive on-scene within six hours notification. RAP supports and provides assistance to the appropriate on-scene authority by providing capabilities to search for lost or hidden radioactive materials, identifying radioactive materials, area monitoring, radiological advice and consultation, etc.

For more information please contact Carl Czajkowski, Group Leader at 631-344-4420 cjc@bnl.gov

Radiation Detector R&D Group

The Radiation Detector R&D Group collaborates with other national laboratories, commercial entities and the BNL Instrumentation Division in developing advanced detectors that offer greater range, selectivity and ease of use over currently available systems. These projects offer the opportunity to build and test various detector systems in a real world environment for potential deployments in countering proliferation and terrorism.  BNL has assembled a world-class capability in advanced radiation detector development that covers the full range from crystal growth to complete spectroscopic gamma ray systems and advanced imaging and directional neutron detectors..

For more information please contact Ralph James, Group Leader at 631-344-8633 rjames@bnl.gov

Safeguards and Verification Implementation Group

This group has a broad range of activities in support of US and international safeguards programs and includes the following:

The International Safeguards Project Office (ISPO) is responsible for the day-to-day technical and administrative management of the U.S. Support Program (USSP) to IAEA Safeguards. ISPO works with the IAEA Department of Safeguards and the U.S. interagency Subgroup on Safeguards Technical Support to transfer technology available in the U.S. private and public sectors to the IAEA for increased effectiveness and efficiency in the implementation of IAEA safeguards. The U.S. has sponsored nearly 800 tasks to provide technical assistance in measurement technology, containment and surveillance, information technology, training, procedures, quality assurance, environmental sampling and remote monitoring. ISPO also assists in recruiting U.S. citizens for positions in the IAEA Department of Safeguards. 

For more information please contact Susan Pepper, Project Head at 631-344-5979 pepper@bnl.gov.

Global Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention and Technology Centers

This area includes the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Global Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention Program (GIPP) and the U.S. Department of State (DOS) International Science and Technology Centers.  The key objective of these programs is to support nonproliferation in the area of nuclear, biological and chemical Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) by providing assistance in establishing sustainable non-weapon related jobs for the scientists and engineers in the Newly Independent States (NIS) of the former Soviet Union, as well as Iraq and Libya, who possess current or prior, direct or indirect WMD experience.

For more information please contact Upendra S. Rohatgi, Program Manager at 631-344-2475 rohatgi@bnl.gov.

DOE MPC&A Technical Survey Team

The Technical Survey Team (TST) is a group of safeguards technical experts with extensive nuclear materials physical security, control and accountability, design, implementation, inspection, evaluation and management experience. The TST reports its findings to the Assistant Deputy Administrator of NNSA, who is Director of the DOE Material Protection, Control and Accountability Program (MPC&A). TST's mandate is to provide ongoing, independent, objective, focused advice and information to the Director and his staff to support effective, consistent, and efficient implementation of the Program. The TST performs this function in large part through conducting annual progress reviews of all MPC&A Projects, analyzing the information obtained in these reviews and providing the Program Director with both summary and comprehensive reports on each project. The TST Survey Team also conducts and assists in developing insider vulnerability assessments at Russian nuclear facilities processing large quantities of SNM.

For more information please contact John Lemming, Group Leader at 631-344-2669 jlemming@bnl.gov.

Verification Systems

The group also develops and maintains verification systems for nonproliferation and arm's control agreements. These efforts range from simple portable measurement devices to large and complex systems installed at nuclear facilities in host countries. 

For more information, please contact Susan Pepper, Group Leader Lead at 631-344-5979  pepper@bnl.gov.

Last Modified: May 13, 2011
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One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE's Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by the Research Foundation for the State University of New York on behalf of Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

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