APPLICATION OF PROCESS MONITORING TECHNIQUES FOR TRANSFER FACILITY SAFEGUARDS

This paper presents current development and application of process monitoring techniques to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) demonstration facility for safeguards monitoring. Some safety critical facilities and systems, such as nuclear power plants and aircraft, incorporate process monitoring techniques to detect and identify changes and improve reliability and safety. Several of these techniques can also be applied to international and domestic safeguards. The ORNL mock feed and withdrawal facility is a small scale process laboratory that mimics a general continuous-batch operational facility, such as an uranium enrichment facility. By simulating various process conditions, including sensor faults and sensor masking, key parameters can be identified to provide sensor validation and fault detection for safeguards monitoring.