Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have measured X-ray emissions from plutonium, uranium, and neptunium with unprecedented accuracy, an achievement that will help scientists more precisely monitor nuclear materials.
Nuclear inspectors detect the amount and type of nuclear material at power plants and weapons facilities by looking for gamma-ray emissions unique to specific radioactive elements. However, some of these elements also emit X-rays in the same energy range, masking the signal and making nuclear stockpiles harder to assess.
NIST's measurements allow scientists to filter out the X-ray background noise so they can more precisely evaluate the accumulation of nuclear materials.