WASHINGTON, Oct. 18, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Nuclear Solutions, Inc. announced today that it filed its first international patent application for a patent-pending technology being developed to detect shielded nuclear weapons and smuggled nuclear materials such as Uranium-235 and Plutonium-239 sufficient to make nuclear weapons.
"There are well-founded concerns about 'loose nukes' making their way into our country and the countries of our allies. To assist in countering the threat of nuclear terrorism worldwide, we are developing a non-radiation based technique for detecting nuclear weapons and the materials used to make them.
"The typical approach for detecting shielded nuclear materials relies on ultra-sensitive radiation detectors. This is flawed due to the fact that the radiation emitted by Uranium-235 and Plutonium-239 is relatively low and easily shielded, making signature threat detection and acquisition virtually impossible.
"For this reason, the Nuclear Solutions proposal could significantly increase the level of protection from nuclear threats and potentially offer a dramatically better alternative," explains Nuclear Solutions, Inc. President and CEO Patrick Herda.
Nuclear Solutions, Inc.'s new patent-pending technology is based on gravimetric sensing techniques, detecting the presence of plutonium and uranium by responding to minute gravitational gradient anomalies produced by these high-density nuclear materials. The technology is unaffected by radiation shielding techniques and could lead to the development of a highly sensitive, portable and low-cost detection system. There are conceivably wide applications for the proposed detection system, including screening ocean-bound shipping containers that could be used to transport smuggled nuclear materials.
In October 2004 and January 2005, Nuclear Solutions filed U.S. patent applications for its technology intended to detect shielded nuclear weapons. This latest patent application builds on previous filings and allows Nuclear Solutions to seek international intellectual property protection in over one hundred countries under the auspices of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Visit http://www.wipo.int/pct/en/ for more information about the PCT and the WIPO.
Nuclear Solutions, Inc. is an innovative technology development company committed to exploring, developing, and commercializing viable products in the areas of nanotechnology, environmental technology, as well as homeland security and defense. Products under development include long-lived nuclear micro-power sources based on three U.S. patents (5,087,533; 6,118,204; 6,238,812) to power applications in the emerging field of nanotechnology and microelectronics; a patent-pending process to remediate tritiated water via an advanced separation technique; and a patent-pending shielded nuclear weapon and materials detection system. For more information on Nuclear Solutions, Inc., explore www.nuclearsolutions.com.
