Laser Curtain For Containment And Tracking

This paper focuses on new safeguards techniques designed to be applied in the European dry spent fuel storage facilities (SFSF). The number of spent fuel assemblies stored in the SFSF is constantly increasing. This has resulted in a situation where the currently implemented containment and surveillance techniques providing Continuity-of-Knowledge (CoK) are not anymore well suited for the purpose, causing disproportionately high workload for both DG ENER and IAEA inspectorates on applying them. Further, the big number of spent fuel containers is causing a considerable radiation dose intake for the inspectors applying these techniques, as well as for the facility operator staff accompanying the inspectors.The paper presents a novel system for automated remote inspections, the Laser Curtain for Containment and Tracking (LCCT). LCCT consists of one or more laser scanners mounted on site structures, e.g. walls, railings. It is an active system that continuously monitors in real-time user-specified areas of interest, creating a virtual “box” (that can be quite complex in structure) around items to be safeguarded. Any intrusion into the areas of interest by an object larger than a specified limit is automatically detected and recorded. Such intrusion can trigger event alarms and additional safeguards measures like cameras. This system can also be used to track movements of objects within a given area, e.g. movement of spent fuel containers in a facility.The paper illustrates the concept of the LCCT for different types of existing and future nuclear facilities in Europe.