Material Protection, Control, and Accountability Upgrades at the Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant, Novosibirsk, Russia

The Ministry of the Russian Federation for Atomic Energy (MINATOM) and the United States Department of Energy (DOE) are engaged in a joint, cooperative effort to reduce the risk of nuclear proliferation by enhancing physical protection and material control and accounting (MC&A) of special nuclear materials (SNM) at the Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant (NCCP). NCCP is located in south central Siberia, approximately 3,000 km south and east of Moscow. Novosibirsk is the third largest city in Russia and NCCP is one of the largest open stock enterprises in Russia. NCCP provides nuclear fuel for atomic power stations and research reactions in Europe, Asia, and the Near East. The Facility supports itself with a number of commercial nuclear and non-nuclear products. This paper describes physical security and MC&A updrades, objectives and strategies, methods of addressing and resolving classification issues, Ministry of Interior (MVD) involvement in the planning and upgrades process and sustainability issues, specific upgrades, and the ways risk has been and is being reduced.