Year
2011
Abstract
A simulator for Gas Centrifuge Enrichment Plant (GCEP) advanced safeguarding concepts has been designed, constructed, and tested at the Savannah River National Laboratory with support from the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Nuclear Safeguards and Security. The objective of the GCEP Accountancy Simulator is to support the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA’s) mission of drawing credible conclusions regarding the correctness and completeness of declarations from a State System of Accounting and Control (SSAC). Incorporating off-the-shelf equipment currently being utilized by the IAEA into an interface which communicates with the operator’s accountancy scales and other in-process weighing and NDA systems allows for unattended monitoring of all bulk uranium handled at a GCEP. A key component of the simulator is the accountancy scale, a gyroscopic system capable of making weight measurements accurate to within a kilogram. The scale is used for weighing uranium hexafluoride (UF6) cylinders being received at or shipped from a GCEP. The data from the scale is passed securely to an on site Collection Computer where it is stored locally or transmitted to a remote Inspector Workstation (IWS) computer. The data from all integrated systems can be analyzed by an inspector at the IWS and evaluated for discrepancies between an operator’s declaration and the inspector’s data. This simulator provides a valuable tool for developing safeguards approaches for GCEP facilities and for training inspectors on the accountancy system. A remote unattended monitoring accountancy system such as this may allow the IAEA to reduce its footprint at operating GCEP facilities and provide data that will allow for fewer, but more efficient, inspections at the facility. This paper will describe the conceptual simulator integrated systems layout and possible applications for advanced GCEP safeguards equipment