Remote Monitoring of Safeguarded Nuclear Material

Upon agreement between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), excess weapons grade fissile materials were placed under international Safeguards in 2002 at the Savannah River Site (SRS), SC, USA. These materials are stored at a dedicated location. In order to increase efficiency and effectiveness, it was decided to install Remote Monitoring (RM) systems that allow active radio-frequency tamper- indicating devices (RFTID) seal data to be interrogated and video surveillance system data to be reviewed, at any time, from dedicated computers at the Agency’s headquarters (HQ) in Vienna, Austria. The new Remote Monitoring (RM) systems replace an interim safeguards solution whereby seals and video surveillance data were reviewed on site by Agency safeguards inspectors during each monthly inspection. The video surveillance and seals RM systems are completely independent and the authenticated encrypted data are separately forwarded to the Agency’s HQ. The purpose of this paper is to describe the work performed to develop, install and test the RM systems at the Savannah River Site. Due to data security concerns, significant time was required to complete agreements that enabled the development and approval of the computer network architectures required to provide adequate data protection for both the facility and the Agency. During August 2005, the RM systems were installed, connected, and the transfer of data to the Agency’s HQ in Vienna was tested. Since August 2005, the RM systems have completed a trial period to date with no “safeguards significant” system malfunction. This paper discusses the systems architecture, data protection methods, implementation and results of this new work.