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Scientists have tapped artificial intelligence and powerful computing to take the first step to accelerate how quickly officials are able to learn important details about nuclear events such as explosions, accidents or industrial emissions.
It takes exacting laboratory work to determine the details behind an event such as a nuclear explosion, including critical requirements like tracking down the source of the materials that were used. During an incident, a rush of nuclear and chemical reactions happens. Hundreds of isotopes and chemical compounds are created and some quickly blink out of existence. Putting all the molecular puzzle pieces together to create a confirmed description of what happened is a long and difficult process.
Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have employed generative AI and machine learning, as well as cloud computing resources from Microsoft, to show how analysis could be hastened. Researchers have shown that AI can help solve some of the complicated chemistry questions that scientists confront when analyzing a mix of radioactive debris from a nuclear explosion.
A persistent goal for such research is to speed up the process to identify key information about a nuclear explosion and deliver answers more quickly. This research is an important step toward that goal by further prioritizing and targeting the chemical steps required to do so, ultimately reducing the time required in the laboratory.
The report of the modeling study was published in the journal Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. PNNL researchers also presented their work this spring at the Methods and Applications of Radioanalytical Chemistry conference.
Artificial intelligence helps accelerate the investigation of a nuclear event. It can chart out the laboratory steps necessary to get to the results of an analysis more quickly than without AI input.
Nic Uhnak is the PNNL radiochemist who led the study. He said, “There’s a tremendous amount of radiochemistry that needs to be done to determine the fingerprints of a nuclear explosion. The process has to be done quickly, but scientists face a very complex chemical environment, with high radiation levels and many separate chemical processes occurring simultaneously. You’re dealing with highly complex chemistry and many potential laboratory experiments and analyses.”
Uhnak compares the post-detonation analysis to identifying the sources and features of the ingredients of a cake that has already been baked. What farm did the eggs come from and how many were used? What type of oven was used to bake the cake and how long was it baked? If so many questions can be asked of a simple cake, one can imagine the questions that must be answered after a nuclear explosion.
PNNL is part of a group of national labs and law enforcement agencies that supply the U.S. government’s nuclear forensics capability. PNNL and others feed information that is interpreted by other parts of the system to allow important attributions and decisions.
In this analysis, the PNNL team puts forth a set of chemical forms likely to be present in the debris and asked basic questions about the subsequent chemistry. Which reactions are most likely to occur? What laboratory experiments are required to answer the questions at hand? Which experiments should be done in what order?
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