Nuclear smuggling sensor networks upgraded

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is funding a $1.9 million upgrade of a computer program involving detection of nuclear smuggling.The grant was awarded University of Texas at Austin Professor David Morton and colleagues to expand an existing computer model that guides the placement of sensors to detect nuclear smuggling attempts.The U.S. Department of Homeland Security provided the funds to improve the design of sensor networks in Russia and other former Soviet Union nations that have insufficient security for their stores of nuclear weapons and radioactive material."Russia's got the biggest border of any country on the planet, making it highly unlikely the country could seal its borders," said Morton. "So the real issue becomes: given the limited resources and the fact that radiation detectors can cost upward of $1 million to set up, can we provide a computer tool that locates the detectors optimally?"The United States has provided more than $100 million to place radiation detectors at Russian sites where smugglers could escape with material for preparing nuclear weapons or dirty bombs. The computer model prioritizes decisions on site selection.