A prototype elemental identification system has been developed for the inspection of commodities shipped on pallets. The system is called NELIS (Neutron Elemental Inspection System), and it identifies all major and minor chemical elements of the items on a pallet. Since the elemental composition of illicit drugs is quite different from that of innocuous materials, NELIS is to inspect the contents of the pallet, looking for elemental compositions that are either different from the "background" elemental composition, or are very similar to the elemental composition of illicit drugs. The "background" is defined as the elemental composition of the commodities on a pallet in the absence of hidden drugs within the commodity.

The measurement of the major and minor chemical elements takes place with the non-destructive, non-intrusive pulsed fast-thermal neutron analysis technique. 14 MeV neutrons produced with a pulsed sealed tube neutron generator are the interrogating particles. Neutrons impinging upon an object can induce any of several nuclear reactions in the elements found in the object. These reactions can be used to identify the chemical elements of interest by examining the characteristic gamma rays emitted from the object. These gamma rays have different energies for each element, and act as their fingerprints. (See also detailed description of the PFTNA techniques)

• NELIS Laboratory Setup.		• NELIS Schematic.
• NELIS.

For more detailed information, please see the Publications portion of this web site.