SECURITY FEATURES OF A NUCLEAR MATERIAL ACCOUNTING SYSTEM

The Los Alamos Nuclear Material Accounting and Safeguards System (MASS) is a near-real-time accountability system for bulk materials, discrete items, and material undergoing dynamic processing. MASS has evolved from an 80-column, card-based process control system to a very sophisticated computer system. Recently, the computer hardware was upgraded to a modern transaction oriented central computer system designed to accommodate extensive growth in the foreseeable future. The security of the MASS computer system is provided through various access controls. There are two kinds of access controls to be addressed. They are physical access control to the hardware which make up the system and access control to the software. There are many features which provide a measure of security to the hardware that will be discussed. Access to the software is controlled by a security password. Access to various transaction activities in the system is controlled through the level of MASS user privilege. Details of MASS user privilege will be discussed.