Archive for 2020

In 2017, radiochemistry graduate student Mark Straub left the comfortable academic environs of UC Berkeley to move to the middle of New Mexico, where he would spend his summer vacation working full time at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), the birthplace of the Manhattan Project. There, Straub teamed up with LANL scientists Jaqueline Kiplinger and Julianna Fessenden to study the impact and evolution of nuclear forensics, a process in which nuclear material can be examined to determine its source and history.

Straub’s dedication to this project continued following the completion of his summer internship, spurring a multi-year collaborative effort between UC Berkeley and LANL. With his advisor, Prof. John Arnold, and his LANL mentors, Straub prepared a review article, “Recent Advances in Nuclear Forensic Chemistry”, will be featured as the cover article in a special issue of Analytical Chemistry next month.  

Above: Mark Straub at work in the Chemistry Lab. 

Nuclear forensics research is critical to national security, as rapid chemical analysis of seized radioactive material is imperative to prevent the construction and detonation of an illicit nuclear weapon.  Within the past decade, advancements in chemistry and nanoscience have revolutionized the capabilities accessible to nuclear forensic chemists, enabling complex analysis of samples that would previously be considered undetectable.  New case studies using fallout from the Trinity Test Site and the Hiroshima detonation site have redefined the paradigm for real-world nuclear forensic analysis, and specialized materials have been synthesized as fallout surrogates and radionuclide traps.  This review of nuclear forensics highlights new compounds and materials, recent case studies, and state-of-the-art capabilities for pre- and post-detonation nuclear forensics and environmental monitoring within the last ten years.  

This project began at the NSSC-LANL Robert Keepin Nonproliferation Science Summer Program, where Mark spent the summer interviewing experts in nuclear forensics and touring the laboratory facilities where this research takes place. This summer program is a component of the prestigious Nuclear Science and Security Consortium (NSSC) fellowship, an opportunity made available by the National Nuclear Security Administration through a $25M award to UC Berkeley. The NSSC, led by Prof. Jasmina Vujic in the Department of Nuclear Engineering, trains the next generation of nuclear scientists and engineers while engaging in research and development that supports the nation’s nuclear security and nonproliferation mission. All NSSC fellows are connected with a mentor at a US DOE National Laboratory that the students work with throughout their academic careers. The NSSC also organizes summer programs and projects that allow students to work on-site at the National Laboratories. With continued support from the NSSC, the authors included perspectives on nuclear forensics from academic researchers, government scientists, and nuclear policy specialists. 

As nuclear globalization increases, the field of nuclear forensics will become an increasingly critical component of national security. These UC Berkeley and LANL scientists continue to contribute to advances in this field, with multiple projects in nuclear forensics and actinide chemistry.  Mark Straub’s doctoral research focuses on developing new molecules and nanomaterials for nuclear forensics and energy applications, and Prof. John Arnold leads the NSSC program in radiochemistry, with dozens of publications in actinide chemistry.  Jaqueline Kiplinger studies molecular transformations of the actinide elements, investigating new processes for catalysis and nuclear forensics. Julianna Fessenden is the United States leader for device assessment post-detonation forensics, a prestigious post. These scientists are devoted to making new advances in this important area of research. To learn more about this exciting field, read “Recent Advances in Nuclear Forensic Chemistry” here. 

Jake Tibbetts, a graduate student at UC Berkeley, is the recipient of the prestigious Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ 2020 Leonard M. Rieser Award. Tibbetts received this award for his article “Keeping classified information secret in a world of quantum computing,” published in the Bulletin on February 11, 2020.  The article was selected from the Bulletin’s “Voices of Tomorrow” column, which features the writing of rising experts in topics including nuclear risk and disruptive technologies. 

Tibbetts is currently pursuing a Master’s degree at UC Berkeley, where he is studying electrical engineering and computer science. He is a fellow at the NNSA-supported Nuclear Science and Security Consortium, and has previously worked as a research assistant at the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. During his time at UC Berkeley, Tibbetts has made contributions to the Nuclear Policy Working Group and the Project on Nuclear Gaming. In the latter, he was involved in the creation of “SIGNAL,” an online three-player experimental wargame in which three countries, some armed with nuclear weapons, attempt to achieve national goals through diplomatic and military means. Tibbetts received undergraduate degrees from UC Berkeley in EECS and Global Studies in May 2020.

From the Bulletin: “In his piece, Jake Tibbetts accomplished the kind of deep, thoughtful, and well-crafted journalism that is the Bulletin’s hallmark,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists editor in chief John Mecklin said. “Quantum computing is a complex field; many articles about it are full of strange exaggerations and tangled prose. Tibbetts’ piece, on the other hand, is an exemplar of clarity and precision and genuinely worthy of the Rieser Award.” 

The Rieser Award is the capstone of the Bulletin’s Next Generation Program, created to ensure that new voices, steeped in science and public policy, have a trusted platform from which to address existential challenges. It is named for physicist Leonard M. Rieser (1922-1998), board chair at the Bulletin from 1984 until his death in 1998.”

NSSC Director Dr. Jasmina Vujic has been honored as part of the UC Berkeley College of Engineering’s celebration of 150 years of women in engineering.

“Jasmina Vujic was the first woman to join UC Berkeley’s nuclear engineering faculty in 1992, and in 2005 became the first female chair of a nuclear engineering department in the nation. She is renowned as a top researcher in the field of nuclear energy systems, numerical methods and biomedical applications of radiation. She is also the principal investigator and founding director of the Nuclear Science and Security Consortium. The $50M+ multi-institution initiative aims to train the next generation of nuclear scientists and engineers, as well as engage academic communities in collaborative research and development with national laboratories in support of the nation’s nonproliferation mission.” Read the full article here.