South Africas Experiences in the Galaxy Serpent National Nuclear Forensics Library Tabletop Exercise

A South African team participated in the Galaxy Serpent NationalNuclear Forensics Library (NNFL) Tabletop Exercise (TTX). TeamSouth Africa, designated as representing the Tucana Galaxy,established an NNFL from supplied data on spent fuel fromthree fictitious reactors — Iapetus, Hyperion, and Enceladus.Subsequently, Team South Africa was supplied with data froma “seized” sample of spent fuel said to have come from theErato reactor (pseudonym), and asked to determine if the Eratofuel was or was not consistent with spent fuel data containedin the Tucana NNFL. All the supplied data sets were developedfrom material in the SFCOMPO website (i.e., public domaindata). Comparison of the Erato data with the Tucana NNFLshowed a combination of suggestive positive and suggestivenegative results. This exercise improved the South AfricaNuclear Forensics team awareness of the need for NNFLs andthe methods that can be used to generate one.