Situational Awareness Monitor for Nuclear Events

72275-With the ever-present threat of terrorist attacks on American soil, it is increasingly important to monitor pre-nuclear-event warning signs and provide post-nuclear-event assessment for use in consequent management and emergency response. In particular, major urban centers are potential targets of nuclear attacks, ¿dirty bomb¿ attacks, and chemical/biological agent attacks. This project will develop, demonstrate and make commercially available a cost-effective, easy-to-use Situational Awareness Monitoring System (SAMS) comprised of a series of individually configurable Micro-environmental Sensor Pods (MSP) containing both meteorological sensors and radiation detectors with good spectral resolution. These units would be permanently deployed to establish baseline conditions and monitor for pre-event warning signs. Additional units could be quickly deployed after an event to augment the network for the emergency response and clean-up teams. The network feeds data to a central station where advanced computer models of plume dispersion could predict the spread of material from a radiological terrorist incident. In Phase I, a high resolution gamma ray spectrometer was incorporated into a plug-and-play sensor module for use with an MSP and was shown to detect and identify radioactive material in a passing vehicle. The data was relayed from the MSP to a personal computer via a radio link, demonstrating the feasibility this system for detecting unauthorized nuclear material. In Phase II, the advanced gamma ray spectrum analyzer will be incorporated into a sensor module for use with the open architecture plug-and-play port on an existing Situational Awareness Monitor (SAM). Additional wireless dosimeter sensors will be included to further enhance the capability of the SAM system, and to provide information to characterize suspicious sources. By incorporating baseline data from the sensor network in atmospheric/plume models, the spread of toxic material through an urban center could be projected, allowing policy makers to create emergency response plans. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by awardee: This system should see immediate market demand from agencies responsible for homeland security in metropolitan areas and military bases. Since the sensor interface is generic, detectors for chemical agents, pollutants, or other contaminants can also be incorporated into the Situational Awareness Monitor for data collection and transmission.