The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Government, the United States Department of Energy, or the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

This work was funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the U.S. Department of State.

▶ The IDC maintains one of the largest nuclear explosion monitoring databases in the world and has recently implemented a number of information security measures to further strengthen ability to protect Treaty-relevant data

Fission-Based Production Is Expected to Increase in the Coming Years

Mr. Ian M. Cameron Pacific Northwest National Laboratory P.O. Box 999, MSIN K8-27, Richland, WA 99354 (509) 372-4619 Ian.Cameron@pnnl.gov

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The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) operates a worldwide network of radioxenon detection systems as part of the International Monitoring System (IMS). The scientific community has recently observed that fission-based production of the medical isotope Molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) produces radioxenon effluents in ratios and quantities similar to those expected from a nuclear explosion, posing significant challenges to the CTBTO’s analysis of IMS detections. As one way to help mitigate these challenges, medical isotope producers can share facility stack monitoring data with the CTBTO, which would assist in better identification of civil sources of radionuclide detections. This presentation examines the verification benefits to sharing stack monitoring data, as well as some of the barriers that currently exist to incorporating this data into the International Data Centre (IDC).

Incorporating Radionuclide Stack Monitoring Data into the International Data Centre IM Cameron, TW Bowyer, JI Friese, LA Metz, C Doll, JI McIntyre, PW Eslinger

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Opportunities to Engage The Workshop on the Signatures of Medical and Industrial Isotope Production (WOSMIP) ▶ Brings together experts

from the nuclear explosion monitoring and isotope production communities

▶ Promotes collaborative, open-source R&D between producers and monitoring organizations

Atmospheric Background Measurements ▶ Using portable IMS technology, scientists

measure atmospheric backgrounds of radioxenon in non-IMS locations to further understand the impact of radioxenon emissions

▶ Several isotope producers have contributed to better understanding of the transport of stack emissions to locations downwind

Pilot Stack Monitoring Experiments ▶ Using low-cost materials

and making use of existing facility infrastructure, PNNL and the PTS have implemented stack monitoring at isotope production facilities

▶ While a permanent network of stack monitors will require a more robust installation, experimental installations contribute valuable data to assist in the data integration at the IDC

The Problem Radioxenon from Fission-based Isotope Production Is Detected in the IMS Every Day ▶ On average, the IDC detects radioxenon from known

medical isotope producers every day, requiring analyst time to distinguish from the signatures of nuclear explosions

▶ Without improved tools to track and account for the effect of radioxenon emissions, some events of interest could go undetected

Incorporating Stack Data into the IDC In Parallel, Efforts Underway to Improve IDC’s Use of Data ▶ PTS is improving their capability to use stack monitoring data to “flag”

potential downstream IMS detections based upon readings observed at the stack

▶ The goal of higher resolution stack data is to also estimate the impact on IMS station measurements – subtracting out the background

CTBT Data Transfer and Storage Infrastructure Exists Today ▶ Global Communications

Infrastructure (GCI) is used to transmit data from the IMS securely from hundreds of sites around the globe

Photo credit: www.ctbto.org

Imperfect but Necessary Solutions No Single Solution Will Mitigate the Impact, but the Cost of Inaction Is Great ▶ Mitigation at the source using delay tanks or other methods is by far the

most preferable method for the monitoring community; however, this is the most expensive option for producers

▶ Stack monitoring data can help the analysts in the IDC to distinguish civil sources of radioxenon, but it can never fully eliminate the radioxenon background, which affects minimum detectable concentrations (MDCs) at stations

▶ Engagement with the CTBT community can lead to technical collaboration and reduced emissions or increased data sharing

▶ While recent projections suggest that global demand will stay steady, indications are that new producers will be more geographically dispersed.

Source: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory