Safeguards in the Melox Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication plant. The first two years of experience.

The Melox plant has been operating since 1994. Its production is increasing steadily toward its nominal capacity (250 MOX fuel assemblies per ~ear). A specific safeguards scheme has been ckxmsedand implemented taking into account the size and the specificities of the plant, such as the level of automation in the handling of nuclear material, the F use of a hi performance computerised nuclear material fo ow-up system and the fact that the nuclear material is not easily accessible, This safeguards scheme is based u on the daily transmission of a comprehensive (fata set, the use of unattended measurement and surveillance stations and branching and log ings of operator’s flow measurement equipment. h e subject of this paper is to describe the safeguards scheme and to evaluate it, from the perspective of two years of production experience.