Nuclear Forensic Applications in Geoscience and Radiochemistry

Dear Colleagues,

A vital component of global nuclear security is the prevention of the theft and trafficking of nuclear materials. Hence, the primary objectives of forensic analysis of (pre-detonation) nuclear materials are to determine the provenance of interdicted materials so as to deter actions that would utilize illicit nuclear material, and to monitor compliance with the United Nations Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Nuclear forensic analysis exploits the fact that certain signatures are unique to the geologic origin for a sample of interest. The different types of critical evidence sought for forensic purposes typically include morphological attributes, isotopic measurements, age data, and trace element compositions (in particular, rare earth element concentrations) of nuclear materials at both bulk and high spatial resolution scales.

This Special Issue invites contributions that focus on reporting forensic investigations of nuclear materials covering the early part of the nuclear fuel cycle, from natural uranium-rich ores/minerals (e.g., uraninite) to uranium oxide concentrates (UOCs) and nuclear fuel pellets using a wide variety of established and novel analytical methods and approaches. This includes the examination of morphological features of nuclear materials that develop due to changing environmental conditions and/or aging, identifying chemical and/or isotopic signatures related to U metal processing, multi-component statistical analysis of existing or new chemical/isotopic databases, establishing reference materials for micro-analyses conducted at high-spatial resolution, and corroborating and/or developing new baseline forensic signatures in raw ores from varying uranium deposit types.

Dr. Antonio Simonetti
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

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