Spent Fuel Reprocessing Plant Characteristics Important to an Integrated Safeguards Design

The adoption of real time techniques and equipment has been frequently discussed as an approach to upgrading safeguards. Characteristics of LWR reprocessing plants, which severely impact the value of real time accountability concepts for safeguards purposes, include: • Main process areas contain large Pu inventories and flow rates and do not readily accommodate frequent inventories without considerable lost production. • Pu concentrations vary widely. • Highly radioactive materials are present. • Most material handling is remote or automated. • Lack of in-line instrumentation with sufficient sensitivity or accuracy to provide meaningful accountability information. Accordingly, emphasis must be placed on other material control measures to attain safeguards system performance objectives. An integrated design approach to counter internal threats must be used which takes into account material form (attractiveness) and accessibility.