The Second Line of Defense Program: Sheremetyevo Airport and Equipment Evaluation

The illicit trafficking of nuclear material is a major concern for nonproliferation and global stability. The nuclear Material Protection, Control and Accounting program (MPC&A) provides the first line of defense in protecting nuclear materials within Russia by upgrading safeguards and security measures at Russian nuclear facilities. The Second Line of Defense (SLD) is a cooperative program between the Russian Federation State Customs Committee (RF SCC) and the United States Department of Energy (US DOE) to minimize illicit trafficking of restricted nuclear materials through Russian border control points. The Sheremetyevo Airport complex in Moscow has been identified as an attractive departure point for such materials. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is working with the DOE, RF SCC, and Scientific and Industrial Company (S.I.C.) Aspect to prevent the trafficking of nuclear materials through the Sheremetyevo Airport complex. Proliferation of these materials will be minimized through an integrated approach of detection, search, and identification, and response procedures and capabilities. We will describe this approach at the Sheremetyevo Airport. We will discuss the requirements of portal monitors in the application of nuclear smuggling and how these differ from conventional requirements of MPC&A. Finally, we have evaluated the S.I.C. Aspect portal monitor and will discuss its performance in the context of the SLD program.