Enhancing Safeguards at the ULBA Fuel Fabrication Plant in Kazakhstan.

The European Commission is coordinating a TACIS funded project oriented to establish in the Republic of Kazakhstan, facilities for Mass/Volume, Containment/Surveillance and Training at the ULBA Fuel Fabrication Plant for enhancement of safeguards in Nuclear Material and Accountancy and Control (NMC&A). This plant is one of the largest in the world and houses a number of tanks, over 600 in fact of varying shapes and dimensions, containing uranium nitrate, both natural and enriched in three separate buildings. In the first phase of the project the key measurement areas have been identified and the procurement of instrumentation is underway. In particular, a mass/volume methodology training laboratory is to be set-up, inclusive of tanks similar as to those installed in the plant, together with dedicated measurement equipment as already provided by the JRC Ispra to the IAEA, Euratom Safeguards Directorate and NMCC Japan, for training in tank calibrations, reverifications and process monitoring. In addition, portable and fixed measurement equipment for tank calibration, process monitoring and data interpretation of tank contents will be provided for installation in the key measurement areas of the plant. Tele camera surveillance equipment and seals will be provided for the storage areas together with dedicated application software developed at Ispra and already applied in Europe. Training in both aspects of mass/volume and surveillance will be provided at both Ispra in the Tank Measurement facility (TAME Laboratory) and at ULBA when complete for both plant operators and the nuclear inspectors of the Kazakhstan Atomic Energy Committee.