DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW SAFEGUARDS INSTRUMENT - THE GEMINI PROJECT

During 1992 and 1993, the CEC Euratom Safeguards Directorate initiated discussions on an all digital surveillance system. This resulted in a jointly funded effort together with Aquila Technologies to perform an initial evaluation and design of an all digital, networkable, safeguards surveillance system called GEMINI. As a result of initial testing and evaluation together with the first practical experience Euratom went of to procure approximately 15 units for delivery in 1994. In the fall of 1993, Aquila presented the design approach and evaluation data to the IAEA with a view to encourage them to joint the project. Under the US POTAS programme, the IAEA proposed a task where certain portions of the development of GEMINI would be funded by the IAEA. This paper provides a survey of the participation of developer, funders, and issues in developing and testing this new safeguards surveillance instrument. The utilization of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components in the development of GEMINI are reported on.