Tracking and Monitoring Nuclear Materials During Transit

Sandia National Laboratory (SNL) has completed a prototype Cargo Monitoring System (CMS). The system illustrates a method to provide status on nuclear material waste while in transit during normal and potentially, abnormal scenarios. This accomplishment is tied to a concept to provide \"seamless continuity of knowledge\" for nuclear materials, whether they are being processed, stored, or transported. The syste, divides the transportation-tracking problem into four domains. each domain has a well-defined interface that allows each domain to be developed independently. This paper will describe the key technologies employed in the system. Sandia is developed a modular tag that can be affixed to cargo. The tag supports a variety of sensor types. The input can be Boolean or analog. The tag uses RF to communicate with a transportation data unit that manages and monitors the cargo. Any alarm conditions are relayed to a central hub. The hub was developed using the Configurable Transportation Security and Information Management System (CTSS) software library of transportation components, which was designed to facilitate rapid development of new systems. CTSS can develop systems that reside in the vehicle host(s) and in a centralized command center. Sandia is a multi-program laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company, for the United States Department of Energy under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.