Results of an Economic Experiment on the Interactions between an Insider and a Safeguards System Component

Concerns about insider behavior have driven increased sophistication in designing safeguards systems that detect, deter, and prevent successful, unauthorized removal of nuclear materials. Safeguards and security technologies continue to develop and the desire for their optimal use correspondingly supports efforts to improve quantification of safeguards system effectiveness. But the human factor remains a critical variable. We explore it by implementing an economic model that characterizes the interaction between an ill-intentioned insider and access control personnel. We are able to examine the potential economic and psychological factors that influence the effectiveness of one aspect of the safeguards system directed at the insider. We present the formulation and results of an experiment conducted with college students in an analogous context.