ABSTRACT
In the mid-1990s, a con–dential informant in Moldova provided law enforcement with asmall sample of gray metal in a35-mm –lm canister. It was said to be representativeof amuch larger quantity of material that was available for sale as a replacement for highly enriched uranium in nuclear weapons. The law enforcementagency requested comprehensive nuclear forensic analysis of the specimen. This investigation was strictly for intelligence information, requiring neither sample documentation nor adherence to federal rules of evidence for criminal prosecution (chain-of-custody protocols were followed nonetheless upon sample arrival atthe laboratory). However, it was necessary to return atleast one-half of the specimen to the informant within afew weeks, and the analyses were constrained to being as nondestructive as possible.
