A Regional Workshop on Nuclear Material Accounting and Control at Facilities

A Regional Workshop on Nuclear Material Accounting and Control at Facilities was developed and held on May 10–26, 2006 in Beijing, China. The workshop was a result of collaboration among the US Department of Energy (US DOE), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA). The workshop provided instruction in facility-level safeguards and security to participants from China and other invited countries. This workshop is a variation on the traditional course on State System of Accounting and Control (SSAC) by focusing on the nuclear material accounting and control (NMA&C) measures as applied at the facility level. The lectures, presentations and worksheets were designed to address nuclear material safeguards and security at the facility level to emphasize the opportunity to address insider threats for the integration of safeguards and physical protection. The workshop was presented to 20 participants from various nuclear facilities and organizations in China and nine participants from four invited countries including India, Pakistan, South Korea and Vietnam. In addition to course lectures and invited guest lectures, all participants visited the safeguards laboratory at the China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE) for nuclear material measurement techniques and integrated implementation scenario demonstrations. Six working groups were established to enable the participants to rotate between tours and demonstrations and to complete exercises in designing integrated NMA&C systems for both bulk and item facilities. Participants also visited the Baotou Nuclear Fuel Plant (BNFP), Baotou and the Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant (QNPP), Zhejian both of which were used as reference models for the bulk facility and item facility exercises, respectively. The workshop concluded with representatives from each of the participant groups presenting the results of their final exercises on the design of the NMA&C systems for a bulk facility. This paper reports the results and experiences from the workshop.