Sandia Computer Simulation Monitors Traffic In Contraband Nuclear Material

By Lockergnome | January 18, 2007

A Sandia National Laboratories researcher has developed a simulation program designed to track the illicit trade in fissile and nonfissile radiological material well enough to predict who is building the next nuclear weapon and where they are doing it.

“By using a cluster analysis algorithm coded into a program,” says Sandia researcher David York. “I evaluated those traffic patterns and routes in which thefts, seizures, and destinations of materials were reported. Data from these examinations were enough to allow me to retrospectively depict the A. Q. Kahn network before it was uncovered.”

Kahn is a Pakistani scientist linked to the illicit proliferation of nuclear technical knowledge. Cluster analyses link data of common place, time, or material. Testing a computer simulation on a known past event is one accepted means of establishing the program’s validity.

Sandia is a National Nuclear Security Administration laboratory.

Tags: sandia, cluster analysis, algorithm, david york, aq khan, nuclear contraband, fissile, nonfissile, radioactive