Real-Time Effectiveness Approach to Protecting Nuclear Materials

The focus of this research is the development of a real-time effectiveness metric to aid in protecting nuclear materials against theft and sabotage. This metric, the Material Assurance Indicator (MAI), includes information on what materials are being protected, where they are in the facility, and when the material was last handled or monitored. The MAI is designed to integrate with already-established methods for computing facility protective systems effectiveness to create a more complete picture of materials protection system performance. Currently, there is no quantitative measure for system effectiveness which includes materials control and accountability, and therefore, no way to answer this question. There are no metrics by which to compute MAI effectiveness, nor standards to compare them against. This lack of an effectiveness metric leaves facilities without a way in which to show governmental compliance of having a system which meets all federal, state, and local requirements. It also discourages facilities from upgrading their protection systems, as there is no way to quantify a system improvement and therefore justify the money spent on upgrades. This paper develops a novel approach by which facilities can quantify a more complete metric of system effectiveness, including the MAI, and demonstrate performance improvements due to system upgrades. Discussion is provided on the MAI’s ability to integrate with existing system effectiveness measures and a demonstration of the MAI’s use on a real world scenario is provided.