Evaluation and Application of Commercial Environmental Measurement Techniques for the Monitoring and Detection of Nuclear Fuel Cycle Activities

Recent nuclear safeguards inspections by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) personnel have led to the conclusion that there is a need for proven environmental sampling and monitoring techniques that complement traditional IAEA safeguards inspection tools. These techniques and technologies can aid in verifying operations as declared and in monitoring for undeclared nuclear fuel cycle/nuclear weapons-related operations. Environmental monitoring is a relatively new mission of the IAEA. It carries broad United Nations support following the discovery in Iraq of undeclared nuclear weapons design and materials production activities. Many of the environmental monitoring techniques and technologies that have been developed in the United States and internationally within the last decade could possibly be adapted for use in international safeguards inspections. Techniques designed to measure or monitor unique organic/inorganic signatures from nuclear materials production or weapons manufacturing effluents in air, water, and soil have not yet been evaluated for use as complementary safeguards tools. These techniques are used by industry to locate and detect environmental contamination and the source of such contamination. These same commercially available techniques and methods, if properly adapted to the task of inspecting, monitoring, and searching for nuclear fuel cycle/weapons production activities, can greatly increase the likelihood of success in concluding that operations are as declared and that clandestine operations do not exist or have not resumed. Any new techniques must allow for the detection of a \"smoking gun\" that indicates past or recent clandestine activities. This paper discusses a recent study undertaken to determine the applicability of existing techniques to international nuclear safeguards inspections. The preparation of a catalog of environmental monitoring techniques and the applications of environmental monitoring techniques to the international safeguards mission are also described.