Design requirements of safeguards sealing system for real-time verification

Abstract

To ensure the peaceful use of nuclear energy, nuclear safeguards are applied in member states of the International Atomic Energy Agency the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The two main goals of nuclear safeguards are effectiveness and efficiency. The International Atomic Energy Agency has a great interest in using a containment and surveillance technology to maintain continuity of knowledge. A representative means of a containment and surveillance technology is a sealing system to alert the user to tampering. The existing sealing systems used by the International Atomic Energy Agency are of limited utility for real-time verification purposes. To address this limitation, the present study analyzed the design requirements of a sealing system proposed by various institutions including the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a number of national laboratories, and companies. Then, we identified the appropriate design requirements of this system for real-time verification. The next step is to develop a real-time verification sealing system based on the design requirements identified and discussed herein. Such a system is expected to significantly enhance the efficiency of nuclear safeguards.