In 2012, the FBI Laboratory working with Los Alamos National Laboratory began developing a capability to process conventional forensic evidence from items consisting of special nuclear material. While conventional forensic evidence (fingerprints, hairs, fibers, photography, etc.) are commonly collected from items submitted to the FBI Laboratory for examination, until recently there was no way to collect these from items containing significant quantities of special nuclear material within a laboratory setting. In 2020, just prior to the pandemic, forensic examiners from the FBI Laboratory and special nuclear material handlers from Los Alamos participated in an exercise at Los Alamos National Laboratory to demonstrate this capability. During this exercise, using mock special nuclear material items, fingerprints were developed, trace evidence was collected, and photographs were taken under the restrictive processes and procedures required for work around and with special nuclear materials and in a manner consistent with the requirements of the FBI Laboratory.

Exercise of conventional forensic capabilities within a special nuclear material handling facility

ACS Fall 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.