Year
2004
Abstract
The Material Protection, Control and Accounting (MPC&A) Program has been working since 1995 with nuclear sites in Russia to upgrade the physical protection (PP) and material control and accounting (MC&A) functions at facilities containing weapons usable nuclear material and to enhance security through nuclear material consolidation and conversion. One of the key elements of the MPC&A Program is to support strengthening MPC&A regulation and inspection. The MPC&A Program is entering into the post-upgrade phase, reflecting the need for inspection and verification of the operation of MPC&A Systems. This paper will explore the role of operations monitoring to support the various inspection activities from the Russian perspective. Initially, a brief review of recent Russian state orders and directives regulating nuclear materials control and accountability, and physical protection of nuclear and radiological facilities will be presented. The impact of these new orders and directives on the practical application by Gosatomnadzor (GAN) of regulations at nuclear and radiological sites will be discussed, with focus on a balance between operations performance and requirements for enhancing nuclear and radiation security. The impact of the new orders and directives will be to expand the scope and inspection functions to be performed by GAN. A system will be described that will allow both facility operators and regulators to monitor material, systems, and personnel to ensure that facility staff continue to operate MPC&A Systems, as designed, on an ongoing basis. MPC&A Operations Monitoring (MOM) Systems are currently being installed at several nuclear facilities in Russia. The paper will describe how data generated by the MOM System will be used to support GAN inspection activities.