Adam Olsen, Nuclear Ph.D. student, presented a poster at the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) Academic Research Initiative (ARI) 9th annual grantees program review meeting. The review meeting, July 12th-14, topics covered were nuclear forensics, materials research, and passive detection technologies. As a part of the meeting activities Olsen’s poster was named as one of the top three posters presented.

Olsen’s research presented was focused on quantitatively characterizing the surface morphology of the uranium oxide U3O8. The purpose of the characterization is help determine the origin of interdicted uranium oxide. The U3O8 samples were synthesized between 600°C – 800°C while holding other parameters constant. The samples were then analyzed by powder-XRD to determine purity and imaged with an SEM. The SEM images were analyzed by segmenting individual sub-particles which were then measured to determine attributes such as particle area and circularity.