Ukraine Forces Undergo Nuclear Forensics Training at US Laboratory

The US military website Defense One published a report on Wednesday of the attendance of ten Ukrainian armed forces personnel along with ten members of the Security Services of Ukraine (SBU) at a week-long training course to learn and practice methods for the forensic collection of debris following a nuclear detonation at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL).

Ukraine has experience in some aspects of nuclear forensics as part of its ongoing efforts to prevent the smuggling of nuclear material. After Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion and the threats voiced by President Vladimir Putin, Kyiv has decided to prepare itself to be able to conduct the forensic examination following a nuclear attack.

Nuclear forensics is designed to establish the source of the nuclear materials used in an attack after which those responsible can be held to account. INL has spent decades developing, researching and supporting US nuclear forensics operations and was the ideal choice to provide Ukraine with the necessary expertise.

Dressed in personal protective equipment the Ukrainian servicemen learned the correct techniques for searching and sweeping areas, collecting dust and debris, securing it in “pigs” – radiation shielded storage containers – and transporting the recovered material for analysis, probably to US-established mobile command centers and forensics laboratories which can be set up anywhere in the world.

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“Ukraine takes the threat of a Russian nuclear attack very seriously,” INL’s David Chichester said even though he considers it unlikely that Russia would use nuclear weapons in its war with Ukraine he further commented, “They have tackled it aggressively because the threat is real to them.”

A member of the Ukrainian team said they had found the training to be effective and useful. Speaking through an interpreter, he said: “We wish to thank you for inviting us to this training and hosting us in your city. The skills we are learning this week will absolutely be implemented when we return home to Ukraine.”

Another trainee said, “The support and training you are providing to us means more than you know.”

The INL forensics training exercises were supported by personnel from several other centers of nuclear expertise, including the Argonne National Laboratory, the Kansas City National Security Campus, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Nevada National Security Site, and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) – all members of the US Department of Energy Forensics Operations team (DFO).

The NNSA has established a dedicated Ukrainian task force, which the DFO considers especially necessary because of Russia’s continuing use of misinformation making the ability to unquestionably prove the source of a nuclear strike crucial. CJ Johnson, a senior advisor to the task force said, “The point of this [training] is to build the capability for collecting high-quality samples for analysis. Until two years ago Ukraine had no capability of this kind.”

INL’s David Chichester said that as a result of the training course, the relationships and mutual trust that has developed with Ukraine was especially valuable and would continue beyond the formal course. “You can't maintain a proficient level of this capability if you don't train,” he said.