Department of Energy (DOE) Security Evaluations (SE) ' Inspection Activities and Approaches for Extended/Automated Nuclear Material Physical Inventories

Using new technologies, facility-specific protection features, and enhanced materials controls to reduce the frequency of physical inventories of nuclear materials can result in significant cost savings and reduced personnel radiation exposure. The Office of Security Affairs issued policy guidance to facilitate such inventory reductions without compromising safeguards and security and later provided additional guidance for performing automated physical inventories to further reduce resource and operational impacts. These automated inventories can use such technologies as image processing, electronic surveillance, and indirect nuclear measurements. Security Evaluations closely followed the activities of the working groups developing this guidance and maintains an interest from a field implementation perspective. As new technologies are developed and implemented, inspection of storage areas under extended/automated physical inventories presents a new challenge to the Security Evaluation team. This paper will address general inspection activities/approaches for storage areas under extended/automated physical inventories. Inspection elements that will be discussed include: deviation documentation, vulnerability assessments, record and log review, performance and design criteria, and independent performance testing.