![](https://armscontrol.eu/wp-content/themes/mandigo/images/icons/bullet_sidebars_hide.png)
![](https://armscontrol.eu/wp-content/themes/mandigo/images/icons/bullet_toggle_minus.png)
Los Alamos Using Neutrons to Stop Nuclear Smugglers
Posted by Arms Control Center in SPECIAL WEAPONS, tags: Nuclear Safeguards, Nuclear SmugglingLos Alamos National Laboratory researchers have successfully demonstrated for the first time that laser-generated neutrons can be enlisted as a useful tool in the War on Terror. The international research team used the short-pulse laser at Los Alamos’s TRIDENT facility to generate a neutron beam with novel characteristics that interrogated a closed container to confirm the presence and quantity of nuclear material inside. The successful experiment paves the way for creation of a table-top-sized or truck-mounted neutron generator that could be installed at strategic locations worldwide to thwart smugglers trafficking in nuclear materials