FAST TRACK DEMONSTRATION OF THE STRAIGHT-LINE SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE

Sandia National Laboratories is developing Fast Track as a near term demonstration of the Straight-Line2 nuclear material monitoring system architecture. It will implement major elements of the Straight-Line system in a realistic system setting. Fast Track will act as a test bed to gain information on monitoring stored, weapon grade nuclear material. The Pantex plant near Amarillo, Texas has agreed to participate as a demonstration site along with sites located in New Mexico and California. Information from sensors, deployed on AL-R8 nuclear material containers and throughout the storage magazine will be collected from each site, processed and disseminated to local and remote users. Initial operation of this system was slated for June 1, 1995. This paper will address the system architecture and engineering aspects of fielding this system on a compressed time schedule. Collection of data in a nuclear environment, transmission, processing and lessons learned from deployment will also be discussed.