Summit to feature Korea`s cutting-edge nuke tracking tech

In a simulation, an alarm goes off on the System for Identifying Radiation in Environments Nationwide, or SIREN, at the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety in May 2012. The radioactivity near a coastal road in a given city surges to twice the normal level.

According to the think tank and the Korea Institute of Nuclear Nonproliferation and Control, no problems were found after checking radioactive devices and movements of nuclear fuel used in the country. Several months ago, they had received a report that nuclear materials were stolen from an international nuclear materials management system in the Middle East.

If the materials are smuggled into Korea, the nuclear safety institute sends a request to fire and police stations to protect against nuclear terrorism. Police raid the scene and locate the nuclear materials by using small detection devices. Three men arrested at the scene are identified as members of a global nuclear terrorist group who entered Korea to destroy major national facilities.

Though this is a hypothetical scenario, such an incident could happen any time. As a leading IT powerhouse in the world, Korea tracks nuclear materials in real time by using the global positioning system and telecommunication networks.

○ Real-time tracking of nuclear materials

The nuclear safety institute operates a nuclear source tracing system that locates non-destructive examination devices used at construction sites. Capable of seeing through architecture like medical X-ray equipment, the devices contain radioactive materials including iridium 192, which emits gamma rays.

Though the devices contain low amounts of such materials, the quantity is enough to make a so-called dirty bomb that combines radioactive materials with conventional explosives.

To prevent such an attempt, every non-destructive examination device has a GPS sensor and CDMA telecommunication chip. When one of them is moved to a construction site for use, images of the device being moved are transmitted in real time to monitors at a control room at the nuclear safety institute.

If the device is brought into a building that satellite signals cannot penetrate, a CDMA chip inside the machine communicates with the closest telecommunication base station to transmit its rough location.

“If a non-destructive examination device is lost or stolen, we can locate it immediately,” a source at the nuclear safety institute said.

The Korea Institute of Nuclear Nonproliferation and Control operates a system to track the location of nuclear material delivery focusing on monitoring nuclear fuel used at power plants and atomic think tanks. Vehicles carrying nuclear materials are equipped with radioactive sensors, wireless video cameras, GPS devices and radio frequency identification devices that allow the agency to closely monitor the movement, storage and transportation processes, and situation through satellites and mobile telecommunication devices.

“If all countries are equipped with such a system, they can prevent nuclear materials from ending up in the hands of terrorists,” said Yoo Ho-shik, a senior nuclear security officer at the nonproliferation institute.

The think tank plans to demonstrate the system at the 2012 Seoul Nuclear Security Summit next week.

○ Close monitoring of radioactivity nationwide

SIREN, which the nuclear safety institute has been using since July last year, checks radioactivity throughout the country. It conducts real-time analyses of data collected from 12 radioactivity-measuring stations and 59 stations gauging environmental radioactivity across the country.

The think tank has also obtained overseas radioactivity through information exchanges with neighboring countries such as China and Japan.

The Computerized Technical Advisory system for a Radiological Emergency, or AtomCARE, is also useful for counter-terrorism measures. The system was developed by the nuclear safety institute to monitor the operations of nuclear reactors in real time.

If physical damage is done to a nuclear power plant that in turn causes a reactor to malfunction, AtomCare issues a radioactive leak warning and an order to shut down the reactor immediately to prevent further damage.

○ Development of terror-free fuel

In addition, Korea possesses the technology to manufacture nuclear fuel that cannot be used for terrorism. In 1989, the nuclear safety institute developed a technology to make nuclear fuel that can be used in uranium for research purposes and the core technology for them.

Countries with advanced nuclear technologies such as the U.S., France, Belgium and Argentina have imported samples from Korea for joint research projects. Even if terrorists grab nuclear fuel made with the technology, it is impossible to use the fuel to make nuclear weapons because the fuel is based on low enriched uranium.

“Korea has world-class technologies for the development, control and operation of nuclear fuel,” said Park Jong-mahn, a senior researcher at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. “I hope that the Nuclear Security Summit will discuss the global use of Korean technologies to prevent nuclear terrorism.”