Year
2015
Abstract
Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is part of a multi-laboratory research project tasked with investigating methods for detection of tampering on unattended/remotely monitored systems (UMS) in International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) installations. Ensuring that the detector signals received at the IAEA cabinet are authentic is central to the independence of IAEA’s safeguards conclusions. INL is investigating a passive noise analysis technique in the frequency domain to detect tampering. Prior work performed by INL showed a proof-of-principle method in which changes in ambient conditions could be observed in the frequency spectrum. In this paper several new findings, as well as further investigation into prior findings used for tamper indication, will be presented. Information from various parts of the spectrum and the whole spectrum can be used to determine temperature changes, modifications made to a pre-amplifier/amplifier or the replacement, changes to the neutron detector, replacement of the transmission cable, tapping into the cable and teeing off the signal from the cable. Future work will investigate the viability of these indicators to detect tampering for normal operation, noisy environments and real world applications.