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Physical protection cooperation between US Department of Energy national laboratories and Special Scientific and Production State Enterprise (Eleron) of Russia
US DOE national laboratories and Russian institutes are becoming increasingly cooperative in support of nonproliferation of nuclear materials. This paper describes completed projects, current work, and areas of possible future cooperation between US laboratories and a Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy (MINATOM) entity, Special Scientific and Production State Enterprise (SNPO). The Kurchatov Institute, SNPO, and the US national laboratories jointly completed a physical protection system (PPS) for a facility housing two reactors at Kurchatov Institute within a very short time frame in 1994. Spin- off projects from this work resulted in a US-witnessed acceptance test of the new system adhering to a procedure adopted in Russia, and visits by DOE laboratories` personnel to SNPO`s sensor development and test facilities at Dubna and Penza. SNPO was one of the MINATOM sites at which Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) conducted a vulnerability assessment training course. Current cooperative projects include additional physical protection upgrades at Kurchatov where SNPO is involved as an installer and supplier of sensors, alarm display, video, and fiber optic equipment. Two additional contracts between SNL and SNPO result in information on Russian sensor performance and cost and an exchange of US and Russian sensors. Russian sensors will be tested in the United States,a nd US sensors will be tested in Russia. Pacific Northwest Laboratory administers a contract to document the process of certifying physical protection equipment for use at MINATOM facilities. Recent interest in transportation security has opened a new area of cooperation between the national laboratories and SNPO. Future projects are expected to include SNPO participation in physical protection upgrades at other locations in Russia, pedestrian and vehicle portal development, positive personnel identifier testing, and the exchange and testing of additional equipment.