Year
2009
Abstract
The Secure Video Surveillance System (SVSS) is the product of collaboration between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), and the Brazilian-Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials (ABACC). The joint project addresses specific requirements of redundant surveillance systems installed in two South American nuclear facilities as a tool to support unannounced inspections conducted by ABACC and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The surveillance covers the critical time (as much as a few hours) between the notification of an inspection and the access of inspectors to the location in facility where surveillance equipment is installed. ABACC and the IAEA currently use the EURATOM Multiple Optical Surveillance System (EMOSS) which is now out of line and no longer supported by the manufacturer. In addition, spare parts are no longer available. The redundant systems currently used so far have properly attended the expected objective, but ABACC and the IAEA are concerned that the risk of complete failure is unacceptably high. A maintainable, current-technology solution is needed urgently. As a field test, ABACC intends to replace one of the existing ABACC EMOSS systems by the Secure Video Surveillance System (SVSS). SVSS utilizes commercial offthe shelf (COTS) technologies for all individual components. Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) supported the system design for SVSS to meet Safeguards requirements, i.e. tamper indication, data authentication, etc. The SVSS consists of two video surveillance cameras linked securely to a data collection unit. The collection unit is capable of retain historical surveillance data for at least three hours, with picture intervals as short as 1sec. Images in .jpg format are available to inspectors using various software review tools.