The unique capabilities of AMS are well-suited to complementing the wide range of analytical tools that are applied to nuclear forensics, not just in pre-detonation and post-detonation forensics, but in the large suite of issues in nonproliferation, treaty monitoring and verification, and in eventual control and characterization of the nuclear fuel cycle.
The sensitivity of AMS and the ability to quantify uncertainty at very low levels are unique enabling capabilities for nuclear forensics.
In addition, atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons during the 1950s and early 1960s doubled the concentration of carbon-14 atmosphere and created a pulse that labeled everything alive in the past 50 years as carbon moved up the food chain. The variation in carbon-14 concentration in time is well documented and can be used to chronologically date all biological materials since the mid-1950s.
