Safeguard Application Options for the Laser-Based Item Monitoring System (LBIMS)

Laughter, Mark D¹ 

[1] ORNL

关键词: AUTOCLAVES;    COMMUNICATIONS;    CONTAINERS;    DESIGN;    IMPLEMENTATION;    LASERS;    MONITORING;    MONITORS;    NUCLEAR FACILITIES;    OPENINGS;    SAFEGUARDS;    SECURITY;    STORAGE;    VALVES;    VERIFICATION;   

DOI  :  10.2172/939648
RP-ID  :  ORNL/TM-2008/086
PID  :  OSTI ID: 939648
Others  :  Other: NN4003010
Others  :  MDGA517
Others  :  TRN: US0806894

学科分类：核能源与工程

美国|英语

来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) are developing a Laser-Based Item Monitoring System (LBIMS) for advanced safeguards at nuclear facilities. LBIMS uses a low-power laser transceiver to monitor the presence and position of items with retroreflective tags. The primary advantages of LBIMS are its scalability to continuously monitor a wide range of items, its ability to operate unattended, its low cost of implementation, and its inherent information security due to its line-of-sight and non-broadcasting operation. The primary proposed safeguard application of LBIMS is described in its name: item monitoring. LBIMS could be implemented in a storage area to continuously monitor containers of nuclear material and the area in which they are stored. The system could be configured to provide off-site notification if any of the containers are moved or removed or if the area is accessed. Individual tags would be used to monitor storage containers, and additional tags could be used to record information regarding secondary storage units and room access. The capability to register small changes in tag position opens up the possibility of several other uses. These include continuously monitoring piping arrangements for design information verification or recording equipment positions for other safeguards systems, such as tracking the opening and closing of autoclaves as part of a cylinder tracking system or opening and closing valves on a sample or product take-off line. Combined with attribute tags, which transmit information from any kind of sensor by modulating the laser signal, LBIMS provides the capability to wirelessly and securely collect safeguards data, even in areas where radio-frequency or other wireless communication methods are not practicable. Four application types are described in this report: static item monitoring, in-process item monitoring with trigger tags, multi-layered integration with trigger tags, and line-of-sight data transfer with attribute tags. Field trials for each of these applications are described.