Testing and Commissioning the Integration of the Nuclear Material Protection System at Joint Institute for Power and Nuclear Research – Sosny, Belarus

The current approach to enhancing the effectiveness of nuclear material protection systems at the Joint Institute for Power and Nuclear Research - Sosny (JIPNR-Sosny) depends on combining various subsystems into integrated security complexes. Development of our comprehensive security system follows the patterns applicable to evolution of all technical systems, advancing towards improved functionality, integration of subsystems, resulting in higher sophistication of the system logic. Integration is used at JIPNR-Sosny to enhance the system reliability and performance while maintaining reasonable costs for maintenance and sustainability. This process does not include identification of particular parameters of the integrated system which benefit from the integration of subsystems. The integrated protection complex includes: ? high-level control implemented on the basis of the integration software platform (e.g., the Intellect system for the central alarm station (CAS)); ? data acquisition and processing system (e.g., computerized tamper indicating device (TID) management); ? a full set of facility-level systems capable of operating independently (e.g., fire alarm/alert, criticality safety); ? simple and flexible scalability of the complex using system expansion packages (e.g., intrusion sensors, CCTV, nuclear material measurements). At the JIPNR-Sosny, it became necessary to test and commission the integrated physical protection subsystems, including the perimeter fences, into a single system terminating at the new CAS. As much as possible, indigenous equipment and software have been installed throughout the material protection, control and accounting (MPC&A) upgrade process. However, testing and commissioning of system integration will be somewhat complicated by the fact that 75% of the equipment for one of the subsystems (a double fence around a facility will be equipped with intrusion detection, video surveillance, and access control and management features) will be supplied by European Union countries. This paper describes the process of accepting and commissioning the integrated nuclear material protection subsystems installed at nuclear and radiological facilities on site toward a single organizational system.