Year
2007
Abstract
The U.S./Russian Material Protection, Control, and Accounting (MPC&A) program has been active since 1994. In 1997, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)1, in cooperation, and through contract, with the Russian Research Centre-Kurchatov Institute (KI), under the MPC&A program, installed the jointly developed Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12)2 SmartShelf™ and Continuous Automated Vault Inventory (CAVIS) technologies for providing constant unattended monitoring of stored nuclear material(s) of interest. SmartShelf™ is an item monitoring system, and the CAVIS weight sensor technology is a weight monitoring system for stored nuclear materials. Benefits derived from use of these two technologies are a reduction of inventory frequency, a reduction of operational cost, improved security and minimization of worker exposure to nuclear materials during routine physical inventories. SmartShelf™ and CAVIS are still in service at KI and have proven how beneficial these reliable and long-life technologies can be for MC&A application in any nuclear facility. This paper will address the technologies and their application at KI, including the current operational status and potential applications, as well as address the derived benefits of these technologies in terms of system reliability, inventory assurance, worker safety, and cost efficiency.