THE INTERNATIONAL INSPECTION OF A U.S. EXCESS WITH AND WITHOUT REMOTE MONITORING— A COST COMPARISON

This studyestimatesthe DOE-incurredcosts in preparingfor and hostingpotentialIAEAinspectionsof an excesspit storagefacility at the Pantex Sitel with and withoutthe aid of remotemonitoring.The study’s principalfocus is on whetheran investmentin remote monitoringis recoverable,i.e., whetherat some point in time during an inspectionregime,the costs for installing,operating,and maintaininga remote monitoringsystemare overcomeby the costs that wouldbe incurredwithoutits use.A baselineremote monitoringsystemincopmting demonstrated technologiesis definedandits cost estimated.This estimateand severalmultiplesof it togetherwith estimatesof the laborand operationalcosts incurred undera postulatedinspectionregimeserveas the bases of this study.A key finding is that, for the range of parametersconsidenxi,the timesfor investmentrecovery arereachedrelativelyquickly,i.e., withina decadeafter the inspectionregime’sonset. Investmentrecovery times,the expendituresmadein reachingthem,and the averageannualcost accrualratesareprovidedas a functionof remote monitoringsystem initial cost. A guidelineindicatingwheninvestmentrecoveryis theoreticallypossibleis also provided.