Microscopic Process Monitoring

Microscopic process monitoring is a material control concept being developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for application to future large reprocessing facilities. It is expected that reprocessing facilities will be equipped with abundant process instrumentation and an interactive computer system to access and interpret the resulting data. The microscopic process monitoring methodology would take maximum advantage of these resources in an effort to quickly and reliably detect nuclear material diversion. This process monitoring strategy is currently being tested on a small scale; larger demonstrations are planned.