Australias Experiences in the Galaxy Serpent Virtual Tabletop Exercise

Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO)Nuclear Security Research Program staff participated inthe International Technical Working Group on Nuclear Forensics(ITWG) Galaxy Serpent National Nuclear Forensics Library(NNFL) Virtual Tabletop Exercise. A model NNFL was establishedusing spent fuel composition data from three reactorscode-named Anthea-PWR (pressurised water reactor), Atlas-BWR (boiling water reactor) and Enceladus-BWR. The NNFLwas compared with an intercepted sample (Clio) using statisticalanalysis from basic Microsoft Excel chart tools to the morecomplex multivariate analysis. Our results indicated that theClio material was a suggestive negative match to have originatedfrom our Galaxy. The exercise provided valuable lessons inthe process of establishing an NNFL. These are fully discussedin the paper.