Year
2007
Abstract
The Next Generation Attribute Measurement System (NG-AMS) is an automated neutron and gamma assay device designed to determine whether a plutonium sample inside a sealed container conforms to predetermined limits of plutonium mass, age, and isotopic content. The assay instruments inside the NG-AMS consist largely of commercially available hardware and software. During the measurement of an unknown plutonium sample, sensitive data may exist in the assay instrumentation, and off-theshelf radiation measurement hardware is not generally designed to prevent access to the data being collected. Thus, in a transparency context, the internal instrumentation in the NG-AMS must be encapsulated within an information barrier (IB). The NG-AMS IB was designed to allow only a very limited amount of information to pass through, and in a controlled manner. This is accomplished through a minimal user interface consisting of a single pushbutton and a small number of LED outputs. Engineering controls were put in place to prevent both malicious and accidental breaches of operating protocol from allowing a release of sensitive information.