Demonstration of Bilateral U.S. and Russian Remote Monitoring System for Special Nuclear Materials

In the context of U.S. and Russian lab-to-lab initiatives, Sandia National Laboratories contracted with Kurchatov Institute Russian Research Center to demonstrate the feasibility of remotely monitoring the storage of nuclear material. The cooperative experiment was to demonstrate the Remote Monitoring System (RMS) with a minimum of 10 kg of HEU in storage at reciprocal facilities. The Kurchatov Institute selected a site at their facility and the DOE selected a site at the Argonne National Laboratory-West facility. At Kurchatov, there is material for monitoring in a floor vault, a cabinet, and shipping containers. At Argonne West, material stored in two types of storage systems is available for material monitoring. This paper discusses the system concept from both perspectives: the operator of a facility where a RMS is deployed and the user of the RMS at the remote site. The demonstration provides a unique opportunity to have a bilateral demonstration/evaluation where each participant examines all aspects of the system. The hardware and software needed to implement this system is discussed. The impacts to the operation of the facilities are discussed as well as the use of the system to remotely monitor a facility. This technology provides the capability of remotely monitoring the access to the stored nuclear materials but is not a real time security alarm system. Several enhancements to the Remote Monitoring System have been identified for future consideration.