Nuclear security is one of the biggest issues in the world today, with UT’s nuclear engineering department playing a key role in that effort both at home and abroad.
That expertise was highlighted recently by ScienceNews magazine, who spoke with Eric Lukosi, an assistant professor in the department, about radioactive “fingerprints.”
The work itself was conducted by a team from North Carolina State University and Oklahoma State University, and hinges on the idea that any location that has previously stored radioactive material will still register the presence of at least some of that material.
Because of that, investigators can better string together who might be illicitly transporting such materials by following the path the material took back to its origin.
Lukosi told the magazine that although their technique was in the early stages, it was still “an interesting approach.”
The full article can be read at ScienceNews