K-State's research aids U.S. search for terrorists' nuclear weapons

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Sources: Terry King, 785-532-5590, tsking@k-state.edu; Mo Hosni, 785-532-5610, hosni@k-state.edu; Ken Shultis, 785-532-5626, jks@k-state.edu; Douglas McGregor, 785-532-5284, mcgregor@k-state.edu; William "Bill" Dunn, 785-532-5628, dunn@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Tim Lindemuth, K-State Alumni Association

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K-STATE'S RESEARCH AIDS U.S. SEARCH FOR TERRORISTS' NUCLEAR WEAPONS

MANHATTAN --The threat of a dirty nuclear bomb smuggled into the United States in a ship cargo container is real. Kansas State University nuclear engineers are playing a central role to help inspectors find and stop the entry of rogue nuclear material.

With work like this, it took only two years for K-State's nuclear program to return to the forefront as the nation's leader in research on neutron imagers and radioactive detection devices.

"We are unique with these studies. Think of it as our niche," said Ken Shultis, professor of nuclear engineering.

Douglas McGregor and William Dunn joined the department in 2002. McGregor moved his entire nuclear laboratory and team here from the University of Michigan after the school closed its reactor. Dunn, who comes from a commercial background, also moved his company's lab from North Carolina to K-State. Between the two professors and Shultis, they have brought in nearly $4.5 million in new research grants and contracts.

The National Science Foundation awarded $2 million to K-State last fall to develop semiconductor neutron-imaging chips. In collaboration with the University of Tennessee and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the imager offers a new way to study stress and strain in metals at the microscopic level never before attainable. For example, Dunn uses a similar imager to look for cracks in sub-layers of metal in airplane wings without disassembling the wing.

In 2003, McGregor received more than $2.5 million from the U.S. Departments of Energy and Defense to further develop and build a device the size of a shirt button to detect hidden radioactive material. McGregor and his team manufacture the device in a Ward Hall lab. From growing pure crystals under bell jars to etching the silicon semiconductor chips, the team of technicians, graduate students and undergraduates turn out the finished product.

Scientists from other institutions also are using K-State's nuclear reactor in their studies. As an example, King pointed to the collaboration of state archeologist Robert J. Hoard of the Kansas State Historical Society and K-State geologist Kirsten Nicolaysen.

Nicolaysen studies trace elements in Stone Age tools made of chert, a rock similar to flint, and compares findings to those in rocks from known sites where prehistoric Plains inhabitants gathered stone to make spear heads, points and knives. The rock undergoes neutron activation in the reactor to analyze the trace chemical composition down to the parts per million and billion.

"The neutron activation is the best way to get the elemental composition," she said. "It's like a fingerprint."

Once these elemental "fingerprints" and the source of the chert deposits are determined, Hoard believes he can conclude something about commerce and migration of early Native Americans from 2,000 to perhaps 12,000 years ago.

"Flint Hills chert was used locally and traded widely to other groups," Hoard said. "It should tell us about migration and hunting excursions and who was trading."

The operational revenues generated from these and other grants have moved the nuclear engineering program from the red to the black.

Shultis, who has given 35 years of his life to nuclear education, is proud of the turnaround.

"I was one of those trained in the first wave of nuclear engineers after the Korean War," Shultis said. "Many of the workers in the industry are like me: soon to retire. The demand for nuclear engineers is skyrocketing."

Of the flurry of new research activity that has returned to Ward Hall, Shultis said it has importance to national security, material science and other areas.

"We're the only university that has the people and the facilities to do what we do."