Year
2001
Abstract
Pursuant to the Trilateral Initiative, the three parties—the Russian Federation, the United States, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)—have been engaged in discussions concerning the use of measurement systems with information barriers for IAEA verification of containers holding plutonium in classified forms. Special requirements imposed by the classification and security requirements of the Russian Federation and the United States preclude the use of current IAEA systems in their usual operational mode. For example, the plutonium mass of items in the form of nuclear weapon components is classified. There may be other items that may come under IAEA verification in which the mass and the form are not classified, but other parameters, such as the isotopic composition, are classified. A technical-experts working group for attribute verification measurements has been meeting since December 1999 to formulate general technical requirements (GTR) and functional specifications (FS) for an attribute verification system for the Trilateral Initiative. Two documents have been provisionally agreed to for the system that is now called an Attribute Verification System with Information Barrier for Plutonium with Classified Characteristics utilizing Neutron Multiplicity Counting and High-Resolution Gamma-ray Spectrometry (AVNG). The GTR and FS provide for a combined measurement system that can verify three attributes: plutonium presence, plutonium isotopics, and plutonium mass. The working group considers these living documents, because the technology is rapidly evolving. This paper will provide a brief summary of the GTR and FS as they currently exist.