Nuclear Forensics can be described as the investigation of materials to find evidence of the source, trafficking, and enrichment of nuclear material. Oregon State University is now offering a new graduate student training initiative as an expanded part of its Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Health Physics Department. OSU Assistant Professor of Research Camille Palmer says the Introduction to Nuclear Forensics course will allow students to actually test samples of material.
Palmer: "An example is, this year, we gave the students a list of isotopic, and they had to go back and calculate where, what reactor this came from, and how old the material was. And so they learn, really apply a lot of the knowledge that's already provided to them."
Palmer says the course one of the first of its kind. It's being funded by the Department of Homeland Security with the intention of bolstering the U.S.'s anti-terrorism and nuclear security efforts.
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