Sandia National Laboratories is developing a new method for detecting penetration of tamper - indicating enclosures (TIEs). This method incorporates the use of "bleeding" materials (analogous to visually obvious, colorful bruised skin that doesn't heal) into the design of TIEs. As designed, it will allow inspectors to use simple visual observation to detect attempts to penetrate the external surfaces of a TIE, without providing adversaries the ability to repair damage. A material of this type can enhance tamper indication of current TIEs used to support treaty verification regimes. Current TIE inspections are time - consuming and rely on subjective visual assessment by an inspector, equipment such as eddy current or camera devices, or involve approaches that may be limited due to application environment. The complexities and requirements that volumetric sealing methods (or TIEs) must address are: (1) enclosures that are non - standard in size/shape; (2) enclosures that may be inspectorate - or facility - owned; (3) finding tamper attempts that are difficult and time consuming for an inspector to locate; (4) enclosures that are reliable and durable enough to survive the conditions that exist in the operating environment (including facility handling); and (5) methods that prevent adversaries from repairing penetrations. Early project R&D [1] focused on encapsulated transition metals. Due to the challenges associated with the transition metal - based approach, a mitigation approach was investigated resulting in two separate research paths — one that involves fabricating custom TIE molds that meet the specific (size and shape) needs of safeguards equipment a nd one that can be deployed as a sprayed on or painted coating to an existing TIE or surface. The "custom mold" approach is based on creating thin layers of materials that , when penetrated, expose an inner material to O2 which causes an irreversible color change. The "in-situ coating" approach is based on applying a sensor solution containing color changing microcapsules that bleed when the microcapsule is ruptured. The anticipated benefits of this work are passive, flexible, scalable, robust , cost-effective TIEs with visually obvious responses to tamper attempts. This provides more efficient and effective monitoring , as inspectors will require little or no additional equipment and will be able to detect tamper without extensive time - consuming visual examination. Applications include custom TIEs (cabinets , equipment enclosures or seal bodies ), or spray-coating/painting onto facility-owned items, walls or structures, or circuit boards. The paper describes research and testing completed to-date on the method and integration of select system components.
Sandia National Laboratories is developing a way to visualize molecular changes that indicate penetration of a tamper-indicating enclosure (TIE). Such "bleeding" materials (analogous to visually obvious, colorful bruised skin that doesn't heal) allows inspectors to use simple visual observation to readily recognize that penetration into a material used as a TIE has been attempted, without providing adversaries the ability to repair damage. Such a material can significantly enhance the current capability for TIEs, used to support treaty verification regimes. Current approaches rely on time-consuming and subjective visual assessment by an inspector, external equipment, such as eddy current or camera devices, or active approaches that may be limited due to application environment. The complexity of securing whole volumes includes: (1) enclosures that are non-standard in size/shape; (2) enclosures that may be inspectorate- or facility-owned; (3) tamper attempts that are detectable but difficult or timely for an inspector to locate; (4) the requirement for solutions that are robust regarding reliability and environment (including facility handling); and (5) the need for solutions that prevent adversaries from repairing penetrations. The approach is based on a transition metal ion solution within a microsphere changing color irreversibly when the microsphere is ruptured. Investigators examine 3D printing of the microspheres as well as the spray coating formulation. The anticipated benefits of this work are passive, flexible, scalable, cost-effective TIEs with obvious and robust responses to tamper attempts. This results in more efficient and effective monitoring, as inspectors will require little or no additional equipment and will be able to detect tamper without extensive time-consuming visual examination. Applications can include custom TIEs (cabinets or equipment enclosures), spray-coating onto facility-owned items, spray-coating of walls or structures, spray-coatings of circuit boards, and 3D-printed seal bodies. The paper describes research to-date on the sensor compounds and microspheres.
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) is investigating photovoltaic (PV) cell configurations, integrating them with the battery-operated Remotely Monitored Sealing Array (RMSA), and testing and evaluating performance for enhanced battery life under various lighting conditions at a facility at the Savannah River Site (SRS) or Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL). Unattended safeguards equipment (e.g. seals) incorporates many low-power electronic circuits, which are often powered by expensive and environmentally toxic lithium batteries. These batteries must periodically be replaced, adding a radiological hazard for both safeguards inspectors and operators. An extended field test of these prototype PV energy harvesting (EH) RMSAs at an operational nuclear facility will give additional data and allow for an analysis of this technology in a variety of realistic conditions, which will be documented in a final report. RMSAs are used for this testing, but SNL envisions energy harvesting technology may be applicable to additional safeguards equipment.
Access points at a deep, mined geological repository (GR) for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and other nuclear wastes present potential diversion paths for nuclear material. Because C/S measures are not likely to be used underground, access to a GR will require unprecedented reliance on C/S measures to maintain continuity of knowledge (CoK) on SNF buried underground. We develop a model GR based on common features of GR designs from national programs in order to develop and optimize C/S measures for GR access points that maximize confidence that CoK is maintained on SNF underground. Critical access points identified in this study are surface entrances to (1) the GR ramp (2) the excavation shaft, (3) the main elevator shaft, and (4) the ventilation shaft. The first three are considered critical detection points (DPs), whereas the fourth is considered a non-critical DP. The reason for the distinction is due to the different design capabilities of shaft components: the first three (ramp, excavation shaft, main elevator) are all capable of being used to move material from the underground to the surface, whereas the ventilation shaft is not. Such capabilities are verified during periodic design information verification (DIV) inspections.
