As its supply of Helium-3 (He-3) dwindles, the Pentagon’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) is seeking a new means of detecting nuclear-fueled explosives.
DTRA has awarded a $2.8 million contract to technologies solution firm Alion to develop a replacement technology for Helium-3 nuclear detection.
Threats such as dirty bombs combine radioactive material with conventional explosives.
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Historically, the Department of Defense and other agencies have used He-3 to detect neutrons emanating from the aforementioned Special Nuclear Material (SNM), according to a release from Alion. However, due to its rareness as a non-naturally occurring substance, the He-3 is rapidly drying up.
Alion is currently developing an advanced detection system that uses boron-coated “straws,” which the company says are “literally bundles of thin copper tubes with a coating of boron, an abundant element.”
Current He-3 detectors are omnidirectional, so they can only alert users to the presence of neutrons. Under the contract, Alion will develop methods to make the boron-coated straw detector directional, so that a search team can pinpoint the location of the source of neutrons and thus react to threats more effectively.
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Alion engineers will also focus on creating smaller detector and faster electronics, while attempting to reduce the technology’s overall production costs.
