ABSTRACT
In the mid-1990s, the Livermore Forensic Science Center was tasked to perform “counterforensic” sampling at the U.S. gaseous diffusion facilities conducting U isotope enrichment. The plants were under consideration for opening to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections for the purposes of international safeguards and accountability. The question for U.S. authorities was whether an inspector with an alternate agenda could learn secret information through analyses of environmental samples of opportunity collected at the sites surreptitiously. The Forensic Science Center therefore conducted a modest sampling campaign to evaluate the magnitude of potential risk to sensitive information and technology from such accessibility. Although a general objective of the exercise was the broad assessment of plant vulnerabilities, a collateral nuclear forensic investigation of the U.S. Special Nuclear Material production complex was also successfully executed. More detail can be found in Chapter 21.
