A Demonstration of ASSESS—Analytic System and Software for Evaluating Safeguards and Security

This paper demonstrates the use of the Analytic System and Software for Evaluating Safeguards and Security. ASSESS is an integrated approach for evaluating the effectiveness of safeguards against theft of special nuclear material by different types of adversaries: insiders, outsiders, and colluding insiders and outsiders. ASSESS consists of six modules: System Manager, Facility Descriptor, Insider Analysis, Outsider Analysis, Neutralization Analysis, and Collusion Analysis. This paper introduces the modules, describes their scope, and highlights the interactions among them. Separate papers will provide detailed discussion and demonstration of each of the modules. The ASSESS code runs on the IBM PC family of computers with 640K RAM, the DOS operating system, and Microsoft Windows. The Windows environment provides a very efficient and convenient graphics user interface as well as drivers for many types of output devices. ASSESS is being developed jointly by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories under the sponsorship of the Department of Energy (DOE) Office 6f Safeguards and Security. The first version of the ASSESS code was delivered to DOE/ OSS in March 1989.