US/Russian MPC{ampersand}A program at the VNIITF Institute, Chelyabinsk 70

Abstract

The All Russian Institute of Technical Physics (VNIITF) is one of the major sites in the nuclear weapons complex in Russia. The site contains a number of research facilities which use nuclear material as well as assembly, disassembly, and testing of prototypes (pilot samples) of nuclear weapons. Chelyabinsk-70 (C-70) also has ties to the major nuclear materials production facilities in the Urals region of Russia. Under the U.S./Russian Materials Protection Control and Accounting (MPC&A) cooperative program, enhanced safeguards systems are being implemented, initially at a reactor test area that contains two pulse reactors and a nuclear material storage facility. Current year projects include site-wide improvements and next year, expansion of work into other facilities at the site. C-70 has developed an extensive computerized system that integrates the physical security alarm station with elements of the nuclear material control system. Under the MPC&A program, the existing systems have been augmented with Russian and US technologies. Additional facilities were added in 1997 to broaden the impact of the MPC&A program at the site. The integrated MPC&A system will be demonstrated to US and Russian audiences when completed in the spring, 1998. This paper describes the on-going activities and describe the cooperative effort between the Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, Sandia, Oak Ridge, Pacific Northwest, and Brookhaven US Department of Energy National Laboratories in support of VNIITF.