SEALS DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION

This paper discusses Sandia's support of DOE's domestic seals program. Testing was conducted on several pressure sensitive seals and a few wire loop seals currently in use as well as on a few new seals. The testing on new seals concentrated on loop seals and included two fiber optic seals and a recently available wire loop seal being considered for use. Environmental, handling and vulnerability testing were conducted. The standardized testing approach used and the results of the testing are summarized. The status of evaluations for using higher security active and passive seals for domestic applications is also presented. The conclusion of the testing of seals currently in use is that, even though there is some variability in their ability to meet all the test criterion, they are all generally acceptable by the test standards used. The motivation for evaluating higher security seals is to ascertain if seals could be used in broader domestic environment and result in improved cost-effectiveness.