Nuclear Materials Screening Study Bolstered By Federal Grant

Jeff Bell
Sunday, 23 September 2007

BerkeleySAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- Researchers at UC Berkeley are launching an ambitious new effort to find better methods of detecting nuclear material.

Dr. Edward Morse heads the multi-disciplinary research team called Domestic Nuclear Threat Security, and said that new $1.4 million federal grant has made the work possible.

Morse said the team’s goal is to reduce or eliminate the false positives during routine cargo screening checks.

“There’s a lot of natural radioactive material in cargo,” said Morse. “For example, a load of porcelain toilets. They are basically made out of clay, which has thorium in it, and thorium is a radioactive element.”

The funding for the project comes from the Academic Research Initiative, a partnership between the National Science Foundation and the Department of Homeland Security. The team could potentially secure up to $7 million over the next five years.