Portfolio 3: Summary of one grand challenge facing by engineers today

One of the grand challenges for engineering nowadays is how to prevent terrorists from using nuclear weapons to threat the world. Since the beginning of nuclear era, materials for making nuclear weapons have been manufactured globally. Some countries can’t prevent these materials from theft or transaction. In addition, terrorists nowadays might have mastered the knowledge to make nuclear weapons.
The main problem for the terrorists now is lack of fissile material, which is plutonium or uranium with large portion being able to perform rapid nuclear fission. Both plutonium and uranium suitable for making nuclear weapons are rare.
Since fuel for nuclear power reactors are not powerful enough to make a bomb. Terrorists’ main targets are fuels specially produced for some large power needed reactors. Plutonium is radioactivity and an ideal fuel for nuclear explosives. Plutonium is world widely used, so that it’s also a target of the terrorists.
Therefore, engineers face the challenging of find, record and keep all the harmful nuclear materials over the world and prevent them to be used out of terrorism purpose.
To prevent terrorism nuclear attack, keeping the materials, detecting the materials at a distance, making devices harmless, building systematical deals after a nuclear explosion and determining the troublemaker are the main challenges.
Some are information based, which means the existed nuclear materials and weapons must be monitored well to prevent theft or illegal diversion.
Another potential danger is terrorists might produce homemade bombs from parts of used bombs. The homemade bombs are more powerful.
In addition, some irresponsible professional designers also help terrorists to build bombs of mass destruction.
When facing technical problems during building a whole bomb, terrorists tend to raise nuclear panics among public. They would use conventional explosives to spread radioactivity materials, which could cause long-lasting deadly diseases in a large scale. Hence, engineers must know how to monitor the materials in daily time and clean the city after explosives.
One last challenge is how to make non-military usage of nuclear energy safe. In other words, engineers have to make sure countries use nuclear energy for peaceful purpose doesn’t make bombs. It’s difficult because countries would tend to do so out of financial factors and records are unreliable.
There are some workable engineering solutions.
One is to plant a device near any nuclear reactor to detect and prevent moving of nuclear materials. This kind of device is under research and testing.
Another solution is stopping transportation of nuclear materials. However, it’s tough, because a large amount of transportation occurs every day. It’s hard to examine each. Moreover, none effective way to detect nuclear materials during transportation is available now.
One new way is to detect nuclear materials without opening the goods during transportation. It is something like an X-ray. However, this method won’t work if the materials were shielded with a lot of water.
Engineers are simulating real time examining procedures. Tryouts even happen between Russia and America. A reasonable budget to popularize the procedures is needed.
Even though new challenges are likely to come, they will be solved relying on the ability of system and engineers as well as the mastering of nuclear knowledge.



The originally article can be found here.