Year
1998
Abstract
Since ABACC started to operate one of the main problems faced was the application of safeguards to a small centrifuge enrichment plant for testing centrifuges in cascade mode. This plant consist of a few fully independent cascades, does not operate in a routine basis and panels prevent visual access to the centrifuges and their surroundings for preserving sensitive information. The safeguards’ objectives for enrichment facilities encompass the detection of the diversion of declared nuclear material as well as the detection of facility misuse. For R&D small centrifuge plants misuse scenarios seems to dominate, particularly those associated with feeding the plant with undeclared LEU. The safeguard’s approach for commercial facilities, based on the Hexapartite Project and the evolution thereof, seems not to be always directly applicable to these cases. This paper presents a concise analysis of eventual misuse strategies in a small R&D centrifuge facility and a possible safeguard’s approach, suggesting the main control elements to be applied. The particularities arising from the existence of panels covering the centrifuges are specifically addressed.