Establishment of a Training Center for Protective Forces (ProForce) Technical Physical Protection Personnel of a Nuclear Facility

During the period of 2005 to 2008 RFNC-VNIITF jointly with the U.S. DOE designed, constructed and put into operation a Training Center for the Protective Force (ProForce) technical physical protection personnel to ensure physical protection at the nuclear facility. The commissioning of the Training Center made it possible to conduct initial training and refresher training of the ProForce personnel that protect the nuclear facility including physical protection system (PPS) operators, response teams, watch commanders, and PPS maintenance personnel. As a result, the protection, operability and reliability of the PPS equipment have significantly improved. The training facility and site contains different types of equipment installed at protected sites including intrusion detection sensors (capacitance, triboelectric, radio-wave, wire-wave, etc.). The Training Center is intended to teach proper maintenance and adjustment of physical protection equipment and alarm equipment used at inner and vital areas. The use of active equipment at the protected areas (those that contain nuclear material) for training purposes is forbidden; which prevents on-the-job training of operators at protected areas. The Training Center offers the opportunity to test all potential situations that can occur at protected areas and can reduce the period of training for operators by half. The Training Center can also improve training of officers who carry out their duties for protection of facilities. The paper provides the equipment list, structure and description of lessons, capabilities and prospects of the Training Center.