USE OF MAILBOX APPROACH, VIDEO SURVEILLANCE, AND SHORT-NOTICE RANDOM INSPECTIONS TO ENHANCE DETECTION OF UNDECLARED LEU PRODUCTION AT GAS CENTRIFUGE ENRICHMENT PLANTS.
Current safeguards approaches used by the IAEA at gas centrifuge enrichment plants (GCEPs) need enhancement in order to detect undeclared LEU production with adequate detection probability. ''Mailbox'' declarations have been used in the last two decades to verify receipts, production, and shipments at some bulk-handling facilities (e.g., fuel-fabrication plants). The operator declares the status of his plant to the IAEA on a daily basis using a secure ''Mailbox'' system such as a secure tamper-resistant computer. The operator agrees to hold receipts and shipments for a specified period of time, along with a specified number of annual inspections, to enable inspector access to a statistically large enough population of UF{sub 6} cylinders and fuel assemblies to achieve the desired detection probability. The inspectors can access the ''Mailbox'' during randomly timed inspections and then verify the operator's declarations for that day. Previously, this type of inspection regime was considered mainly for verifying the material balance at fuel-fabrication, enrichment, and conversion plants. Brookhaven National Laboratory has expanded the ''Mailbox'' concept with short-notice random inspections (SNRIs), coupled with enhanced video surveillance, to include declaration and verification of UF{sub 6} cylinder operational data to detect activities associated with undeclared LEU production at GCEPs. Since the ''Mailbox'' declarations would also include data relevant to material-balance verification, these randomized inspections would replace the scheduled monthly interim inspections for material-balance purposes; in addition, the inspectors could simultaneously perform the required number of Limited-Frequency Unannounced Access (LFUA) inspections used for HEU detection. This approach would provide improved detection capabilities for a wider range of diversion activities with not much more inspection effort than at present.
- Research Organization:
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE/SC
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-98CH10886
- OSTI ID:
- 896196
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-77163-2006-CP; R&D Project: 10549; NN4003070; TRN: US0700700
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: INSTITUTE FOR NUCLEAR MATERIALS MANAGEMENT ANNUAL MEETING; NASHVILLE, TN; 20060716 through 20060720
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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