SAFEGUARDS PERFORMANCE MODELING: NEW APPROACHES FOR SAFEGUARDS BY DESIGN*

As more countries show interest in building advanced fuel cycles and as the technology for safeguarding fuel cycle facilities improves, there is a strong need to apply Safeguards by Design using advanced modeling and simulation tools. The Separation and Safeguards Performance Model (SSPM) was developed to help meet that need. The SSPM has been used to develop advanced safeguards systems, determine the effect of improved safeguards technology, perform diversion scenario analyses, and examine the integration with process monitoring and physical protection for improved effectiveness in monitoring reprocessing facilities. The value of the model is to evaluate the safeguards metrics of proposed system designs and to examine new approaches for advanced nuclear material accountancy. This paper highlights recent work to demonstrate safeguards by design approaches. Examples will be given showing how the model has been used for both domestic and international safeguards problems. The SSPM is one tool that will be used in the 2020 Virtual Test Bed which is a key milestone of the DOE NE MPACT (Material Protection Accounting and Control Technologies) program. The goal of the test bed will be briefly summarized along with how the SSPM will play a role.