US-Russian Collaboration in Nuclear Forensics

Arguably, there can be no greater collaboration in the new science of pre-detonation nuclear forensics than that between the world’s two largest nuclear powers, the United States and the Russian Federation (RF). There has been limited engagement in the past. For example, from 2004 through 2006, LLNL and the Bochvar Institute (VNIINM) cooperated on the further analysis of an HEU sample interdicted in Rousse, Bulgaria, in 1999. In 2004, LLNL also began a collaboration with the Russian Institute of Technical Physics (VNIITF) on the identifying characteristics of research reactor fuel, which led, in turn, to the current collaboration on concepts for the development of a bilateral nuclear forensics database for research reactor fuel. Nevertheless, greater collaboration between the U.S. and RF on pre-detonation nuclear forensics is desirable. Potentially fruitful areas of collaboration include improved methods of nuclear materials analysis, discovery of new signatures for nuclear materials, knowledge management & analysis techniques, and uncertainty/confidence articulation. Of course, there are significant obstacles to collaboration as well. First among these are security considerations, since nuclear forensics, by its very nature, often touches on sensitive or classified issues of fuel cycle or weapons technology. Funding for both the U.S. and Russian laboratories can also be a problem in today’s era of tighter budgets. Finally, an appropriate legal and policy framework for collaboration is required to engage in such technical (lab-to-institute) collaboration. However, both President Obama and President Medvedev have recognized the special responsibility of the United States and Russia for nuclear security and, through the 2010 Nuclear Security Summit Communique and Work Plan, have joined other countries in acknowledging the importance of bilateral and multilateral cooperation to develop national capacities in nuclear forensics.