Year
1993
Abstract
Complex 21 focuses our attention on developing the technology to store, inventory, account for, protect, and maintain nuclear material into the 21st Century. The first step in the process, of course, is site selection and plant design. There are experts in those areas here; I am not among them. We can assume, however, that the optimum nuclear storage facility would be one operated by a minimum number of on-site personnel. \"As many people as necessary and as few as possible,\" would be a good rule of thumb for staffing a nuclear storage site. Human presence adds certain safety and security considerations to the technology equation. It is no small chore to fashion a technological solution that meets the combined challenges of nuclear material handling, physical protection, inventory management, fire watch, security, and personnel safety.