Nuclear-fallout fingerprinting

last updated 8 January 2015

Albuquerque

The government has quietly revived the lost Cold War art of analyzing radioactive fallout, in preparation for a nuclear terrorist attack on American soil. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories are developing methods for obtaining nuclear dust from a bomb site and then studying its chemical characteristics. The government hopes to be able to trace either a “dirty” radiological bomb or a true nuke to its place of origin, so that it would know which country supplied the nuclear material to terrorists. “We’re hoping for deterrence,” said Dr. Charles B. Richardson. “We don’t want anyone to think they can get away with it.” Scientists are developing a robot that could roll 10 miles into a devastated city and gather radioactive samples for testing.