U. S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY REMOTE MONITORING INITIATIVE

Recent world events such as those in Iraq and North Korea have demonstrated the increased risk of nuclear proliferation in the post Cold War era. As the world's capacity for increased knowledge and technological growth have become more evident, the responsibilities, obligations and importance of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have shown significant growth. Coping with this growth has become ever more difficult as the IAEA faces constraints in funding, available qualified inspectors, and pressures to avoid becoming overly intrusive. To assist the IAEA in its increased mission, the U. S. Department of Energy has instituted the Remote Monitoring Initiative which addresses the problem by developing and field testing newly available unattended data collection systems that could be used to transmit Safeguards relevant data directly to the IAEA from nuclear facilities world-wide. This paper discusses the objectives of the Remote Monitoring Initiative, the questions which must be addressed, and the DOE Field Trials approach to the problem, using the Test-Fix-Test philosophy. Finally, currently scheduled Field Trials are presented.