ARGONNE UNIFIED SAFEGUARD - AN INTEGRATED MATERIALS MONITORING TRACKING AND ACCOUNTING SYSTEM

Current work in the area of integrated materials monitoring/tracking and accounting at Argonne National Laboratory-West (ANL-W) has resulted from the development of a materials accounting system by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and a demonstrated personnel and materials tracking system by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). The integration of these two systems has culminated in the current system effort which is called the ARGonne Unified Safeguard (ARGUS) system. The ARGUS system is made up of three major components. These components perform the functions of observing all container movements, authorized materials access approval, initiation and receipt of materials transfers, and perform materials accounting for the facility. ARGUS system benefits can be summarized through system capabilities as follows: near realtime accountability, full traceability of materials access and transfer, enforcement of approved personnel access to materials, electronic confirmation of materials surveillance procedures during materials access and transfers, continuous surveillance of all material not directly involved in the manufacturing process, transfer initiation and receipt, and automatic notification to security for identified anomalies. This paper will concentrate on the overall ARGUS system, its operational impacts and advantages.