BRINGING THE ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL INTO FORCE: DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE DOE ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL REPORTING SYSTEM

The Department of Energy (DOE) is developing a computerized reporting system to help meet its legal obligation to comply with the “Protocol Additional to the Agreement between the United States of America and the International Atomic Energy Agency for Application of Safeguards in the United States of America,” as the U.S. Additional Protocol is formally known. When compared with the information that is already being provided to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) by the United States under the existing Safeguards Agreement, the Additional Protocol significantly expands the types of activities and locations that must be declared in the United States. In order to support the information management needs to meet these new reporting requirements, DOE is developing the Additional Protocol Reporting System (APRS). The APRS will provide a mechanism for National Laboratories and DOE management to: determine the activities and locations to be declared, assemble the information in a concise and effective manner, enter the data into a centrally-controlled information system, submit the data for internal and external reviews and approvals, track the status of the information, and receive final confirmation once it is accepted. The APRS will also provide a mechanism to electronically transmit this information to the U.S. Government (USG) reporting system being managed by the Department of Commerce, which will then submit the information to the IAEA. The APRS will consist of a series of modules that comprise a controlled, robust, and integrated information system. It must be easy to use and available to all stakeholders, while at the same time providing adequate data security for the appropriate level of unclassified sensitive information. The design process addresses these objectives and incorporates extensive input and feedback from multiple user levels to produce an integrated set of software modules, each of which is intended to meet specific user requirements (i.e., cyber security, data control, and other requirements that may differ from installation to installation). When integrated, these modules will work together to support the reporting obligations of the Additional Protocol, maintain data control, and ensure the consistency of the reporting process and final data output. This paper describes the design and current status of the APRS.