EFFECTIVE SAFEGUARDS BY DESIGN IN THE COMMERCIAL MOX FACILITY AT SELLAFIELD

In 1994 Sellatleld delivered its first MOX fuel from the new MOX Demonstration Facility (MDF). The much larger Sellr&eld MOX Plant (SMP) is now at the stage of equipment installation and inactive commissioning. Active commissioning is planned to start during 1997. The Nuclear Materials Control and Accountancy (NMCA) and stieguards arrangements for SMP have been developed to take full account of International guidelines and best practice for plants of this type. The arrangements take advantage of the high degree of automation and containment in SMP and have been designed to integrate closely with plant operations in a non-intrusive manner. The SMP projec~ as with other safeguards projects, has been pursued in close collaboration with Euratom to develop the safeguards approach from a very early stage in a spirit of fill co-operation and in harmony with the overall project time-scales.