The Nuclear Forensics Collaborative Material Exercise 7 – Nuclear and Classical Forensics Join Forces in Israel

Eyal Elish, Analytical Chemistry, Nuclear Research Center Negev, Dimona, Israel (elishey@gmail.com)
Michal Brandis, Radiation Safety, Soreq Nuclear Research Center , Yavne, Israel
Aldo Shemesh, Earth Sciences, Weizmann Institute Of Science, Rehovot, Israel
Arnon Grafit, Csi, The Israeli Police, Rehovot, Israel
Ludwik Halicz, The Geological Survey Of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel

The Israeli National Nuclear Forensics Laboratory (INNFL) was established in 2011, as part of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) contribution to the national response plan to cope with nuclear and radiological terrorism. The role of the INNFL is to assist law enforcement authorities in investigating illicit trafficking of radioactive materials and help bring the perpetrators to trial.

The INNFL is based on cooperation between the IAEC nuclear research centers (Soreq Nuclear Research Center (SNRC) and Nuclear Research Center Negev (NRCN)), and the operational government bodies responsible for investigating and handling such events – the Israel Police and the IAEC first responder's unit. This cooperation relies on the complementary experiences of the Israel Police (conducting forensic investigations) and the nuclear laboratories (investigating radioactive materials).

The nuclear forensics capabilities of the INNFL are supported by scientific research conducted continuously on various topics, primarily focused on different methods of attribution relying on the specific expertise of the two IAEC research centers. The INNFL is also collaborating with the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Geological Survey of Israel.

An international collaborative material exercise (CMX) is held every second year, organized by the NF-ITWG – Nuclear Forensics International Technical Working Group. More than 20 NF laboratories worldwide participated in the last 2022 exercise, CMX 7. Unknown samples were distributed ahead of the exercise, including a detailed scenario and a list of questions to be answered within a pre-defined strict time frame. The CMX 7 incorporated for the first time, a classical forensics package to the nuclear forensics investigation. The INNFL joined forces with the Israeli police CSI team, to perform an excellent scientific collaboration, yielding significant results presented at the CMX 7 data review meeting.

The process of investigating the set of depleted uranium samples and received evidence, in both radioactive (class B) and classical (class C) laboratories, by nuclear scientists and classical crime scene police scientists, will be described, followed by the forensics conclusion yielded by the multidisciplinary team.