Transport methods used for homeland security and non-proliferation detection applications: An overview

This paper discusses recent investigations in homeland security and non-proliferation research that involve the application, analysis, and experimental validation of transport computations as they are applied to SNM detection scenarios. The use of transport theory methods, particularly 3-D Deterministic radiation transport, as a tool in assessing scenarios involving Special Nuclear Materials (SNM) detection for homeland security and non-proliferation applications has increased in recent years. This is primarily due to the need to optimize detectors and understand radiation signatures to overcome the many challenges associated with SNM detection, and the complex nature of the radiation spectra involving neutron and gamma transport in detection scenarios. Augmenting the effort is the more-ready access and availability of high performance computing. Overall, the valuable information obtained from the application of deterministic and Monte Carlo Transport methods, and how those methods are being used to augment detection capabilities is discussed. (authors)