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Prioritized interdiction of nuclear smuggling via tabu search

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Abstract

We describe an optimization model for interdicting smuggling of illicit nuclear material. Modeled on a directed network, the interdictor’s goal is to select radiation detector installation locations, subject to a budget constraint, to minimize a smuggler’s evasion probability. A smuggler, characterized by a random origin–destination pair, traverses the network knowing the detector locations. An additional layer of uncertainty is captured when considering a set of budget scenarios in place of a fixed budget value. An optimal solution to this model yields a priority list of detector installation locations. After the budget is revealed, detectors are installed from highest to lowest priority until the budget is exhausted. This notion captures time-phased securing of a transportation network as resources become available. Modeled as bilevel stochastic mixed-integer programs, both the fixed and random budget models are computationally challenging. Hence, we develop a tabu search heuristic to approximately solve both problem types, and we present computational results to assess the performance of our algorithm.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank two anonymous referees for valuable suggestions, which improved the paper. This work was supported, in part, by DTRA through grant HDTRA1-08-1-0029 and the US DHS through grant number 2008-DN-077-ARI021-05.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Program in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712-1591, USA

    Dennis P. Michalopoulos & J. Wesley Barnes

  2. Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208-3119, USA

    David P. Morton

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  1. Dennis P. Michalopoulos
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  2. J. Wesley Barnes
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  3. David P. Morton
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Correspondence to David P. Morton.

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Michalopoulos, D.P., Barnes, J.W. & Morton, D.P. Prioritized interdiction of nuclear smuggling via tabu search. Optim Lett 9, 1477–1494 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11590-014-0829-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11590-014-0829-4

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