Year
2004
Abstract
High-resolution black-and-white satellite imagery is becoming more common as a cost-effective tool for nuclear safeguards inspectors and regulators, and is now used routinely to provide information to validate or confirm state declarations – primarily through photo-interpretation of cues such as shape, size, pattern, texture, shadows and site associations. Multispectral and thermal imagery can provide valuable supplemental information on the nature and composition of the material in a target to assist in interpretation. Recent advances in remote sensing technology are now providing additional tools that might be used to confirm operations, scheduling, movement of materials and other reported details. Hyperspectral sensors, having hundreds of spectral bands, provide the real possibility to ‘do chemistry from space’, by allowing very subtle measurements of narrow spectral absorption features that reflect the chemical makeup of the target material – distinguishing between ore types, for example. As part of a co-operative project between the Canadian Safeguards Support Programs, Canada Centre for Remote Sensing, and the International Atomic Energy Agency, we are investigating the use of hyperspectral imagery for remote examination of operating uranium mines and other facilities, with the objective of developing methodologies that can be used for safeguards verification of declared and undeclared activities. This paper introduces the concept of hyperspectral remote sensing, discusses the current ‘state of the art’, and presents examples of the use of satellite and airborne hyperspectral imagery to demonstrate classification, identification and differentiation of terrain, materials, water and vegetation in locations of interest to the safeguards community.