
87
3
Engineering Issues
In the previous chapter, the physical properties of nuclei that govern their produc-
tion
a
nd
d
ecay
c
haracteristics
w
ere
d
iscussed.
T
hey
g
ive
r
ise
t
o
t
he
s
ignatures
t
hat
t
he
r
adiochemist
i
nterprets
i
n
t
he
f
orensic
a
nalysis
o
f
n
uclear
m
aterials.
A
lthough
p
hysics
g
overns
t
he
s
ignatures,
t
he
m
aterials
t
hat
d
isplay
t
hose
s
ignatures
h
ave
b
een
c
reated
o
r
m
odied
b
y
e
ngineers.
E
ngineering
i
s
t
he
t
echnology
r
esponsible
f
or
t
he
recovery of raw materials from the natural environment and the adjustment of their
i
sotopic
c
ontent
f
or
us
e
i
n
e
nergy
p
roduction.
E
ngineering
p
rovides
t
he
me
thods
w
hereby
s
ynthetic
m
aterials
a
re
p
roduced