Development of a Ceramic Seal Handheld Reader and Fluorescent Seal Coatings

Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) are collaborating on development of a Ceramic Seal, which is a tamper indicating seal for potential arms control and international safeguards applications. As part of this research and development effort, SRNL is developing a handheld seal reader. The Ceramic Seal Reader (CSR) includes an electro-mechanical interface to the Ceramic Seal in order to read information from the seal. The Ceramic Seal contains a microcontroller chip that can detect tamper attempts. The reader is a battery powered hand held device designed to query the seal to determine its health and tamper status. A proof-of-concept reader is being developed and fabricated this year, with future developments to include data encryption and authentication. SRNL is also developing inorganic fluorescent coatings as a seal tamper indicating feature. The coating research and development is being performed in collaboration with small business partner Tetramer Technologies.