Integrated Sensor Systems for Packaged SNM Monitoring and Surveillance

Several new sensing devices have recently been designed as part of the Oak Ridge Systems for Enhancing Nuclear Safeguards (ORSENSTM) program. These sensors were developed for use in real-time material accountability monitoring systems. The attributes that can be monitored include radiation (both gamma and neutron), weight, item identification tags, temperature, isotopic enrichment, item motion, and physical location. This paper will describe the ORSENSTM technologies and evaluation/demonstration tests which are in progress in collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory-West (ANL-W) and Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL). A Safeguard Technology Evaluation Laboratory (STEL) was installed at a Special Nuclear Materials storage area at ANL-W as part of Department of Energy (DOE) Plutonium Focus Area (PFA) activities. Within the STEL one can mock-up material storage conditions found at a given site within the DOE complex and thus test sensor systems in a realistic environment. A major emphasis of the STEL is to provide process definitive testing of technologies that have been developed for monitoring or measuring actual physical attributes from stored SNMs and to find cost effective solutions to the labor intensive physical inspections (custodial responsibilities) associated with the storage of SNM.