Efficient strategies for low-statistics nuclear searches

We demonstrate that with statistically accurate strategies the reliability, speed, and sensitivity of nuclear search can be significantly improved. We offer two efficient strategies for the quick localization of a weak radioactive source in a large search area. The comparison of our search strategies with a simple uniform search shows improvement of the average search time by 5-10 times. We show that the proposed search strategies significantly reduce the search time while keeping the number of both false negatives and false alarms under control.