A Design and Simulation Tool for Nuclear Safeguards Surveillance Systems

This paper presents a virtual-reality based prototype tool for designing and simulating surveillance systems. The primary purpose of this tool is to help the nuclear inspector in planning the installation of safeguards surveillance systems. In practice, this means the selection of the appropriate equipment and accessories and their location in the real environment under surveillance. The current version supports camera-based surveillance systems and radiation detectors. The proposed tool has the capability of simulating plant operations and checking its interaction with the surveillance system during normal operations. Furthermore, the user can iteratively and interactively assess the vulnerability of the designed surveillance system by dynamically simulating different scenarios with moving items and characters, by changing sensor parameters and, if necessary, by introducing redundancy in the equipment. As a consequence, the nuclear inspector can increase her/his confidence in the design, both in terms of robustness and cost-effectiveness. S/he can further make a detailed preparation of the on-site installation, improving therefore the efficiency and reducing costs. A second use of this tool is for training of nuclear inspectors on the whole range of surveillance and radiation systems, their features and the impact that plant operations may have on them. The paper details on a case study the implemented tools for the three-stage process, including (a) virtual-reality environment modeling, (b) surveillance system location and configuration, and (c) simulation of normal and diversion scenarios. Finally, the paper discusses the potential use of virtual-reality based tools for remote monitoring of surveillance systems and for off-line reviewing of nuclear inspection data.

MOLTO Teofilo;  BRASSET Damien;  VENDRELL VIDAL Eduardo;  RUIZ MORALES Emilio;  GONCALVES Joao; 

2009-11-03

European Safeguards Research and Development Association (ESARDA)

JRC51622

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC51622,   

10.2788/26070,