AUTOMATED DATA COLLECTION (ADC) EXTENSION OF A GENERIC COMPUTERIZED NUCLEAR MATERIAL ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM

An automated data collection (ADC) application provides near-real-time accountability (NRTA) for the New Special Recovery (NSR) facility. This paper discusses the software design of the ADC implementation. NSR processes plutonium scrap and has the analytical instrumentation, distributed process control, and data acquisition systems needed for NRTA. The ADC is a NSR-specific extension of the manual data entry Nuclear Materials Accountability System (NucMAS). The ADC reads measurement and material transfer data from the computers on the network. The ADC transforms this data into accountability events/transactions and maintains the current book inventory for NSR. The ADC updates the same NucMAS data tables that are updated by clerk-entered accountability events/transactions for the rest of FB-Line material balance area (MBA). The ADC uses a data driven approach in its design. The rules that govern the translation of network information into accountability events/transactions are stored as data in configuration tables. This approach results in a system that is configurable and maintainable.