James Ryan was observing a National Guard training drill when he began thinking  of ways to bring his research into neutrons and gamma rays from space back down to earth.  

During the drill, Ryan, of UNH’s Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space (EOS), watched as National Guard soldiers dealt with a simulation of a dangerous situation--radioactive material left behind by terrorists. “You could see how stressed the National Guard officers were,” he says,” and it occurred to me that we could have detected this harmful stuff from across the street.”  

Ryan and his team in EOS’s Space Science Center (SSC) already had plenty of experience using space-based instruments to study neutrons and gamma rays emanated by the sun and other distant astronomical bodies. But as Ryan watched the drill, he realized that similar instruments could be used here on earth to pinpoint from a safe distance materials used to make a nuclear bomb. It was just a matter of bringing the technology from space to the streets.  

“It became clear there was a renewed interest in neutrons and gamma rays, because this is the stuff that can threaten us,” Ryan said. “So now we had research interest on a national scale, and it started my team thinking (that) this is something we can potentially do.”  

In September of 2011, Ryan and his team, in partnership with Michigan Aerospace Corporation, were contracted by the federal Defense Threat Reduction Agency to build just such a device which will be called the Portable Neutron Spectroscope (NSPECT). Scientists and engineers at UNH are developing NSPECT’s hardware and software, while Michigan Aerospace is working on support engineering that will make the device a piece of field-ready equipment.  

NSPECT will be able to detect both gamma rays and neutrons. While gamma rays are more common and easier to detect (found, for example, in radioactive medical waste), it is difficult for authorities to detect neutron emissions. That could be a problem--detecting and pinpointing neutron emissions could tip off authorities to the location of material for a nuclear device or a nuclear bomb itself.  

Imagine this: authorities at a busy shipping port have learned that there is radioactive material in one of the thousands of shipping containers stored at the port.  

Using current technology, public safety officials would have to inspect each building and container in the port to pinpoint the source of the radiation. Devices like Geiger counters can detect radioactive material, but cannot provide specific data on the location of the material and cannot filter out background-radiation.  

By using NSPECT, however, authorities could not only determine the exact location of the material, but also do so from a safe distance. NSPECT also would allow authorities to determine exactly what kind of nuclear material they were dealing with.

NSPECT detects and records every neutron that interacts with it. The instrument then compiles data about each neutron (such as its velocity and the direction it’s coming from) and uses that data to create a coherent picture of the emission pattern. This picture reveals the type of nuclear material NSPECT has detected. Authorities and response personnel can then determine how best to proceed.

Ryan and his team envision NSPECT as a scalable device –NSPECT units could be as small as a backpack or as big as a truck. The idea is to give public safety agencies and the military a device that can fit all situations, from scanning a small shipping container to examining a city block. Once NSPECT is built and tested, the next step will be to produce the device on a commercial scale and get it into the hands of first responders and Homeland Security agencies.  

Already, Ryan has received commendations for his work on NSPECT. In 2011, he was selected as a finalist for the Christopher Columbus Foundation Award for Homeland Security. Ryan was “surprised, but very honored” at his selection.  

While in Washington, D.C. for the awards ceremony, Ryan spent a day at the office of New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen. “They were ‘pumped up’ to hear what we’re doing,” said Ryan.  

Ryan has found similar enthusiasm from his colleagues and the university itself. “The university fosters, encourages, and supports these kinds of things,” he declared.

Story by Larry Clow, with contributions by Victoria Thompson, David Sims (UNH-EOS), and Lynnette Hentges. Photo by K. Donahue, UNH-EOS.