Disarmament verification

Until today, there is an extensive need for research and development on which measurement methods and procedures can be used to monitor and verify the disarmament of nuclear warheads within the framework of future or international treaties. This topic represents a current research focus of the ZNF.

Essential work for this is embedded in the context of the „International Partnership for Nuclear Disarmament Verification“ (IPNDV) in which representatives from 25 states coordinate their research and develop an inspection regime for the disarmament of nuclear warheads. The head of the ZNF, Prof. Dr. Gerald Kirchner, is also involved in the fourth phase of this project as a German expert.

To this end, two projects were funded by the German Foreign Office, including the development of the Franco-German Nuclear Disarmament Verification exercise (NuDiVe) (Documentation) in 2019 and its continuation NuDiVe 2022 (Documentation + Supplement). The disarmament exercises both took place at Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany, as the first open multilateral disarmament exercises with participants from 11 countries. In these exercises, the key step of a supervised dismantlement of a warhead could be simulated in a realistic environment, with special attention to inspection procedures and measurement techniques designed to preclude the possibility of diversion of fissile material by the inspected nuclear weapon state. The 2022 continuation incorporated suggested improvements from the previous exercise and used more modern verification technologies.

Another project funded by the German Foreign Office is currently working on implementing the concepts developed for NuDiVe in a "virtual reality" (VR) environment. This is intended to facilitate the testing and optimization of inspection and measurement procedures.

These efforts are scientifically accompanied by in-house research investigating the possibility of diversion of nuclear material. Several student thesis have examined the properties of various shielding materials for neutrons from plutonium samples, as well as physically simulated in specific scenarios the extent to which small amounts of plutonium in waste containers used in the disarmament process can be hidden by various shielding materials. The transition of such radiation fields in a VR environment was also the subject of a final thesis. More detailed simulations and experimental investigations were also carried out in cooperation with the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK CEN) in Mol and the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS). This work led to numerous scientific publications (publication list).