Year
2015
Abstract
The threat of dirty bombs or radiological dispersal devices (RDDs) is real and the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office of Radiological Security has spent over a decade understanding the threat and working to protect vulnerable high-activity radiological material across the globe that is used in everyday medical, research, and industrial applications. Radioactive sources are used in radiography to inspect welds or metal integrity and in the oil and gas industry to characterize exploration and production wells providing critical data to exploit geological formations in pursuit of oil caches. These mobile radioactive sources are of sufficient curie quantities to be categorized as desirable sources for terrorist organizations. A defense in- depth approach focusing on layered security, starting at the target has been used to enhance the protection security of fixed radiological devices; however, the ability to enhance the security of mobile radiological devices commonly used in the well logging and industrial radiography industries with standard physical security components has proved to be challenging. Over the last 18 months the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL ) has been leading an effort for the Radiological Security Program (RSP) to work with industry partners and mobile radiological device manufactures to develop technology that can be implemented into the daily operations of these industries and provide an enhanced level of security. The fundamental challenge of mobile radiological devices is the control and accountability of the source when it is in transit and in use in the field. Maintaining control and accountability of the location of the source and confirming that the source is in fact still in the proper container is critical when addressing this specific security concern. Working with industry, PNNL has developed a mobile source transit security (MSTS) system that monitors, records and reports the status of mobile radioactive sources using sensor based, active RFID technology to track the source shields, calibration sources and verifiers. The MSTS system uses various electronics to provide real-time status which is communicated from the Master Control Unit (MCU) through a telematics device (long-range communications) to the cloud providing situational awareness to the base of operations center. The MSTS system is designed to be integrated into the industries’ standard equipment and vehicles and contains an internal radiation detector that can detect the presence of the individual source. In the event of an upset condition (lost or stolen source), an alarm is sent to the base of operation center for immediate notification of key personnel to the field condition. User Concept of Operations (CONOPs ), encrypted communication, and state of health communication are additional areas of enhanced security that the MSTS system provides. Currently these systems are being field tested at partner sites within both industries and will continue to be developed in a manner that ends with the industry’s ability to purchase the systems and integrate them into their daily use.