Publications Details

Sample Vial Secure Container (SVSC)

Baumann, M.J.; Franssen, F.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors must maintain continuity of knowledge on all safeguard samples, and in particular on those samples drawn from plutonium product and spent fuel input tanks at a nuclear reprocessing plant's blister sampling station. Integrity of safeguard samples must be guaranteed from the sampling point to the moment of sample analysis at the IAEA's Safeguards Analytical Laboratory (SAL Seibersdorf) or at an accepted local laboratory. These safeguard samples are drawn at a blister sampling station with inspector participation, and then transferred via a pneumatic post system to the facility's analytical laboratory. The transfer of the sample by the pneumatic post system, the arrival of the sample in the operator's analytical laboratory, and the storage of the sample awaiting analysis is very time consuming for the inspector, particularly if continuous human surveillance is required for all these activities. This process might be observed by ordinary surveillance methods, such as a video monitoring system, but again this would be cumbersome and time consuming for both the inspector and operator. This paper will describe a secure container designed to assure sample vial integrity from the point the sample is drawn to the treatment of the sample at the facility's analytical laboratory.