A team of scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory has developed a platinum-based quick screening device to identify radioactivity in debris from dirty bombs.

The new procedure, which can produce initial results in as little as six hours, is an improvement on standard isotope identification technology, which can take a day or more to supply the information.

The team has hit on a number of procedures to extract and identify radionuclides from fused soil and rock, the most common materials in bomb debris, using standard techniques of chemical analysis.

A typical application might be the gathering and pulverisation of debris by a rapidly dispatched mobile laboratory following a blast. The powder thus produced would then be dissolved in nitric acid, which would separate radionuclide constituents from the rest of the debris.

The radionuclides in solution would then be placed on a platinum disk and flamed over a Bunsen burner to evaporate the liquids. Finally, the disk would be placed in an alpha spectrometer where the radionuclides could be identified.

Team leader Bennie Martinez said 'we have achieved a result with fair to good resolution using very few chemicals in a quick turnaround time with a minimum of steps required in the process.

'This procedure appears to be faster and simpler than the standard ion exchange/electrodeposition method.

'There are shortcomings in this screening methodology as compared to ion exchange, but what we were looking for was fast results that are reasonably accurate and relatively easy to obtain, and we did that.

'It's clear the method can identify a number of radionuclides that might be present in dirty bomb debris. Since the method is fairly simple an uses a minimum of equipment, we believe it could be forward deployed and could provide early data to law enforcement and others following a terrorist event.

'We want to help officials close in on the culprits as fast as possible.'