Working group 4: Technical Verification and Monitoring
The focus of working group 4 is on the technical measures supporting nuclear disarmament, targeting verification challenges. This working group consists of multiple members from the Division for Applied Nuclear Physics at Uppsala University, with competences and experiences in nuclear physics, nuclear engineering and nuclear safeguards.
Current activities span over both research and education, with ongoing research topics targeting the assessment and control of sensitive nuclear materials, fuel cycle analyses, as well as nuclear instruments for verification of existing and future treaties on non-proliferation and disarmament.
Research Topics
- Verification of nuclear weapon dismantlement
- Verification of historical fissile material production
- Remote monitoring with radionuclide stations
- Fissile Material Disposition
- Fuel Cycle Modelling
- Material Attractiveness
Working group Leader: Peter Andersson
Peter Andersson is an Associate Professor in the division of Applied Nuclear Physics at Uppsala University. He has a long experience of development of nuclear instruments with applications in nuclear engineering, nuclear safety and safeguards. His work has an emphasis on gamma spectrometry and nondestructive assay using neutrons and gamma rays as information carriers.
Peter holds a PhD from Uppsala University on the topic of fast neutron tomography. He was also a postdoc at the Halden Reactor Project in Norway, pioneering the use of passive gamma techniques for post-irradiation examination of nuclear fuel.
Photo by Camilla Thulin
Working group members
UU Department of Physics and Astronomy; Applied Nuclear Physics:
- Sophie Grape
- Erik Andersson Sundén
- Cecilia Gustavsson
- Shabir Dar
- Erik Branger
- Debora Trombetta
- Markus Preston
- Alf Göök
External collaborators
FOI - Swedish Defence Research Agency
- Anders Ringbom
- Peter Jansson
- Alf Göök
- Catharina Söderström
SIPRI – Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
- Robert Kelley
- Vitaly Fedchenko
VERTIC – the Verification Research, Training and Information Centre
- Grant Christopher
- Hailey Wingo
KTH – Kungliga Tekniska högskolan
- Pär Olsson
- Fredrik Dehlin
- Alejandria D. Perez Valseca
RWTH Aachen University
- Malte Göttsche
- Max Schalz
Publications
A selection of the working group's publications are listed below, in order of publication year.
2024
- Schalz, M., Branger E., Göttsche, M., Grape, S., Gustavsson, C., Assessing Pakistan's Fissile Material Production, (2024), Science & Global Security
2023
- Branger, P. Andersson, V. Fedchenko, S. Grape, C. Gustavsson, R. Kelley, D. Trombetta, Plutonium Production under Uranium Constraint, Science & Global Security, (2023)
- Preston et al., Methodology for Multiparameter Evaluation of Barriers Against Proliferation of Minor Actinides, Nuclear Technology, (2023)
- S Grape, E. Branger, C. Gustavsson, R. Kelley, Simulating submarine reactor fuel in light of the AUKUS deal, ESARDA Bulletin - The International Journal of Nuclear Safeguards and Non-proliferation, ISSN 1977-5296, Vol. 65, p. 34-43. (2023)
2022
- Robert Kelley, Sophie Grape (Contributor), Erik Branger, (Contributor), Cecilia Gustavsson (Contributor). 2022. OPCW as a Model for a TPNW Struture
Conference Proceedings and Posters
2024
AMC Conference 2024, 18-19 June
- Andersson Sunden, C. Gustavsson, A. Göök, E. Ivarsson Biebel, P. Jansson, S. Jarl Holm, C. Söderström, R. Wallentin, P. Andersson, GeCo - A gamma-ray spectroscopy system for evaluation of coincidence methods in radionuclide monitoring
- Gustavsson Andersson P., Branger E., Christopher G., Schmerler D., and Wingo H. Modelling fissile production in the Experimental Light Water Reactor (ELWR) of DPRK
- Gustavsson, P. Andersson, E. Branger, and S. Grape. Exploring methods to reconstruct historic reactor operation
- Dehlin F., Pérez-Valseca A.D., Preston M., Gustavsson C., Andersson P., and Olsson P., Plutonium disposal in the Lead-cooled Fast Reactor SUNRISE-LFR
- D.M. Trombetta, A. Göök, E. Branger, P. Andersson, S. Grape, Assessment of a liquid organic scintillation detector for fast neutron measurements in the context of verification of nuclear weapon dismantlement
- Grape, E. Branger, V. Fedchenko, Exploring reasons behind the development of uranium and plutonium based nuclear weapons in states.
2023
- Gustavsson, C., Branger, E., Grape, S., Mishra, V., Varenne-Paquet, E. (2023). Comparison of the physical and operational parameters of the CANDU reactor and the NRX reactor. AMC Annual conference 2023, 14-15 June, 2023.
- Gustavsson, Branger, E., Fredriksson, S., Hallander, A., Hedberg, I, Mishra V., Assessments of design and operational parameter sensitivity towards plutonium production in heavy water reactors, (2023)
- Grape, Applied nuclear physics in the Alva Myrdal Centre for nuclear disarmament: Non-proliferation and safeguards activities, DPG Spring Meeting of the Matter and Cosmos Section (SMuK), March 2023
AMC Conference 2023, 14-15 June
- Grape, S., Branger, E., Gustavsson, C. (2023). Retrieving information about the Ågesta reactor in Sweden. AMC Annual conference 2023, 14-15 June, 14-15 June, 2023.
- Gustavsson, C., Branger, E., Fredriksson, S., Hallander, A., Hedberg, I. Mishra V, (2023). Assessments of design and operational parameter sensitivity towards plutonium production in heavy water reactors. AMC Annual conference 2023
- Trombetta, E. Branger, A. Göök, P. Andersson, S. Grape, C. Gustavsson, V. Mishra, M. Preston, IPNDV disarmament verification exercise: in perspective of AMC WG4 participation
- Trombetta, E. Branger, S. Grape, C. Gustavsson,, M. Preston, Evaluating nuclear proliferation implications on the use of minor actinides fuel for waste transmutation through material attractiveness analysis
- Preston, E. Branger, S. Grape, V. Mishra, D.M. Trombetta, Methodology for multi-parameter evaluation of minor actinide material attractiveness
- Andersson et al., Radionuclide monitoring with coincidence gamma-ray spectroscopy, poster presentation
- Branger, P. Andersson, V. Fedchenko, C. Gustavsson, S. Grape, R. Kelley, V. Mishra, M. Preston, Plutonium production under uranium constraints
2022
- Sophie Grape, Peter Andersson, Erik Branger, Fedchenko, Vitaly. 2022. Report: Technical nuclear non-proliferation and safeguards under the Alva Myrdal Centre for Nuclear Disarmament
- Grape, E. Branger, C. Gustavsson, R. Kellery, V. Fedchenko, Studies of naval reactor core properties in light of recent AUKUS developments,
AMC Conference 2022, October 19-22
- Grape, E. Branger, C. Gustavsson, M. Österlund, A. Ringbom, C. Hellesen, J. Kastlander., Development of a PhD course in verification of nuclear test explosions under AMC,
- Preston, P. Andersson, What makes the bomb go off? On the definitions of fertile, fissile, fissible and fissionable nuclei, poster presentation,
- Preston, E. Branger, S. Grape, V. Mishra, Neptunium: time for nuclear safeguards?,
- Gustavsson Andersson, P., Branger, E., Grape, S., Mishra, V., A technical view on Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme,
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Photo by Micke Petterson
Outreach
Events
- Cecilia Gustavsson, Presentation for high school science students at the “Science Day” on November 19, 2024. Topic: Nuclear Weapon Disarmament – technical aspects.
- Sophie Grape. UppTalk Weekly, Panelsamtal om kärnvapennedrustning. I panelen ingick Sophie Grape, Erik Melander och Martin Goliat från FOI. 2022/10/25.
- Grape, The Alva Myrdal Centre for Nuclear Disarmament. Presentation at the Department for physics and astronomy colloquium 2022/09/20
- Grape, Working group 4: Technical nuclear non-proliferation and safeguards, Presentation at the AMC meeting with U.S. Deputy assistant secretary for nonproliferation policy, Ms Ann Ganzer, 2022/05/04
Media
Robert Kelly
Sophie Grape
- Podcast “Researching peace”, #19 En kärnfysikers detektivarbete 2022/6/2
- Intervju. De möter kärnvapenhotet med kunskap - Uppsala universitet (uu.se) eller Tackling nuclear threat through knowledge - Uppsala University (uu.se) Publicerat i Uppsala universitets magasin (skickas ut till alla anställda) och på hemsidan, 2022/10/19
- ”Det är väldigt många steg från en kärnkraftsreaktor till ett kärnvapen” - Uppsala universitet (uu.se), 2022/03/11
- Håkansson och S. Grape: Sophie Grape och Ane Håkansson kommer bedriva forskning om kärnvapennedrustning vid Alva Myrdal-centrum - Uppsala universitet (uu.se), 2021/01/26
Peter Andersson
- Andersson, Kärnkraftssäkerhet i Ukraina efter 2022, Östsällskapets hemsida, 2024/5/13
- Andersson, Att tillverka ett kärnvapen - Hur svårt är det?, 2022
Teaching
2025
Cecilia Gustavsson, Teaching for the Nuclear Verification Winter School (NVWS), from February 10 to 14, 2025, in Duisburg, Germany. Topic: Advances in Nuclear Technology and Implications for Nuclear Disarmament Verification
2024
- Second edition of 7.5 hp PhD course (FOI-AMC) Verification of nuclear explosions
- 2 lectures in AMC course on Nuclear Weapons and Disarmament
- 1 Lecture on Introduction to Nuclear Physics and its applications
- 1 lecture in SIPRI summer school
- An E-learning module for EUNPDC with text and audio-record was made by Cecilia Gustavsson and Debora Trombetta on Nuclear Weapons I : Technology, Materials, Testing, Monitoring
Contact
- For questions about the working group's research and activities:
- Peter Andersson