An Alternative, Frangible, Tamper-indicating Material for Use within Nuclear Weapon Dismantlement Verification

Tamper Indicating Enclosures (TIEs) are an important tool which can be deployed to maintain a chain of custody over treaty relevant containerized items. This paper discusses the use of frangible materials to create a passive tamper indicating boundary for a TIE. The quintessential example of a frangible material used in this context would be ‘shatter glass’, which has many properties of interest but also a number of issues in terms of deployment. This area of work is looking at alternative solutions that might have advantages in terms of manufacturing, weight and the incorporation of unique identification. One proposed alternative is the use of a silica gel. This paper looks at the material’s performance as a tamper indicating material and considers the advantages and disadvantages of this option. Experimental results will be discussed relating to deployment, tamper indication and embedded unique identification.