Computer can monitor illicit fissile trade

ALBUQUERQUE, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- A U.S. government scientist says he's developed a simulation program that can track the illicit trade in fissile and non-fissile radiological material.

Sandia National Laboratories researcher David York says his simulation program can predict who is building the next nuclear weapon and where they are doing it.

"By using a cluster analysis algorithm coded into a program, I evaluated those traffic patterns and routes in which thefts, seizures, and destinations of materials were reported," York said. "Data from these examinations were enough to allow me to retrospectively depict the A.Q. Kahn network before it was uncovered."

Kahn is a Pakistani scientist linked with the illicit proliferation of nuclear technical knowledge. Cluster analyses link data of common place, time, or material and testing a computer simulation on a known past event is an accepted means of establishing the program's validity.

York presented his results in October during the International Safeguards Conference sponsored by the United Nation's International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. He has also been invited to present his research to the European Union's Illicit Trafficking Working Group during the June meeting of the IAEA.