ACCOUNTING OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL AT PROLIFERATION SENSITIVE POINTS IN THE KAZAKHSTAN FUEL CYCLE
2006
Since 1995 with the ratification and enforcement of the Non Proliferation Treaty in the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kazakhstan Atomic Energy Committee (KAEC) is responsible for the implementation of the State System for Accountancy and Control (SSAC). In the SSAC, data on nuclear material inventories are periodically collected on individual nuclear facilities and stored into the KAEC data base, from which reports are prepared for the IAEA in accordance with the Safeguards Agreement between IAEA and Kazakhstan. Corresponding to the Agreement on Nuclear Safety between Euratom and Kazakhstan a programme on Nuclear Safeguards under TACIS (Technical Assistance for the Commonwealth of Independent States) was launched that should enhance the effectiveness of the present state system. After evaluating the different nuclear facilities in Kazakhstan with KAEC, the following facilities have been identified with a need for enhancing safeguards in methodology and instrumentation: - the Ulba Fuel Fabrication Plant in Ust-Kamenogorsk - the research reactors of the Nuclear National Center at the Alatau and Baikal-1 sites. Mainly, in the first facility, the Ulba plant, a scanning system for accurate, near-real time monitoring of the level and density in multiple tanks have been provided for an enhanced followup of the process and in particular the nuclear material flow. The automatic fusion of the data with analysis and interpretation is addressed in a future subsequent project for near real time accountancy at Ulba. Additionally, at the identified facilities a review camera station enhanced the surveillance and complemented the physical protection of the research reactors. Finally, the TACIS programme provided the beneficiary KAEC via the Nuclear Technology Safety Center with informatics equipment and data architecture for modernising the data collection and analysis of the nuclear material accountancy and control. Moreover with the expanding Kazak nuclear activities in particular the new nuclear power plant under design and construction, and the increasing tasks of KAEC also in the safety field, an automatic system for the analysis can help substantially KAEC in its reporting to IAEA under its future Additional Protocol agreement on all nuclear material and its transfers.
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