Making Safeguards Education And Training More Accessible: From The Versatile MBA Evaluation Kits To The Virtual Platform For Safeguards Education And Training (VIPSET)

The demand for education and training (E&T) in nuclear safeguards is increasing in the past years in order to prepare the next generation of safeguards practitioners and to raise awareness of safeguards topics in the broad nuclear community. Several actions were carried out at international level to develop training courses and workshops both to cover a general introduction to nuclear safeguards as well as to deepen knowledge on specific themes. One of the remarks often encountered in participants feedback is the importance of using real case scenarios and hands-on sessions during the E&T process. Only a few nuclear facilities worldwide are offering a long-standing E&T offer in nuclear safeguards, and in addition access to nuclear material is not straightforward given the safety and security regulations in place. In the past year, the global pandemic caused by the Covid-19 virus added new difficulties to in-person E&T activities due to travel restrictions and health measures. In the recent years PNNL developed a versatile transportable hands-on training kit for Material Balance Area (MBA) evaluation exercises using non-expensive and non-radioactive materials. The kit has been used several times to train national inspectors around the world and covers both bulk-handling and item-handling facilities. In order to offer an alternative to in-person training SCK CEN started to develop VIPSET: the Virtual Platform for Safeguards Education and Training. The first virtual case study on how to apply safeguards in bulk-handling facility has been developed in VIPSET and leveraged and expanded on the PNNL kit. The participant can complete the exercise via PC by downloading the stand-alone software. This paper will present the available training case studies and discuss the possible extensions of VIPSET to cover other nuclear facilities and safeguards topics.