Year
2004
Abstract
Over the last decade, transportation equipment and related systems at a number of sites in the Russian Federation have been upgraded to improve the security of the transportation of special nuclear materials (SNM) within and between these sites. These upgrades are an essential part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Material Protection, Control, and Accountability (MPC&A) Program to assist the Russian Federation in protecting SNM. The upgrades are likely to continue for several more years. Early security improvements focused on rapid MPC&A upgrades to the existing SNM transportation system (e.g., by installing physical security upgrades to cargo railcars). More recently the emphasis has shifted to more comprehensive upgrades designed to improve the transportation security system through automation, better long-range communications, command and control, system integration, and equipment modernization. With the emphasis shifting toward a transportation security system, the need to consider sustainability and to integrate it into the planning and design process as early as possible, became apparent. This paper describes how sustainability is being integrated into transportation security planning, design, and implementation activities. Although the emphasis of the paper is on transportation, many of the concepts presented are also applicable to other cross-cutting activities and to site-level sustainability efforts. Implementing a sustainability program for secure SNM transportation systems presents some additional challenges beyond those typically faced by MPC&A sites. The transportation project interfaces with multiple organizations at multiple levels. Coordination with and integration of these diverse organizations and systems at the site, regional, and national levels complicate the picture. The transportation system is by its nature dynamic, and this transient transportation network can be quite complex. Transportation security equipment has a broad range of expected service lives and key transportation elements such as cargo trucks require frequent service and have finite useful lives. This paper discusses some of the requirements for sustainability of secure transportation in the Russian Federation. An approach that considers the integrated transportation system, including regional and national sustainability infrastructure (e.g., regional training centers) is discussed, and a practical model for implementing sustainability for transportation is presented. This approach provides a systematic, consistent, and complete framework for implementing sustainability.