Title EXPLODET Project: Advanced nuclear techniques for humanitarian de-mining

The global problem of marry countries infested with landmines demands near technical solution in the localization and identification of hidden explosi ves. It is believed that only a combination of different sensor systems can fulfill the requirements of humanitarian de-mining. In this respect nuclea r techniques employing neutrons have proved to be a useful tool in the iden tification of commonly used explosives which present an elevated concentrat ion of nitrogen. In this paper we will report on the research project EXPLO DET (EXPLOsive DETection) of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare whic h is aimed at defining the conceptual design of a system for the identifica tion of landmines by direct detection of the nitrogen signature in the expl osives.