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Load cell monitoring in Gas Centrifuge Enrichment Plants: Potentialities for improved safeguard verifications

✍ Scribed by Roland Carchon; Luc Dechamp; Lars Gustav Eklund; Willem Janssens; Giovanni Mercurio; Paolo Peerani; Patrice Richir


Book ID
103866923
Publisher
Elsevier Science
Year
2011
Tongue
English
Weight
891 KB
Volume
241
Category
Article
ISSN
0029-5493

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✦ Synopsis


This paper describes the principle of load cell monitoring in Gas Centrifuge Enrichment Plants (GCEPs) and how this technique can be implemented in order to improve nuclear safeguards in these kinds of installations.

We present a few different possibilities of exploitation of the data that can be obtained by acquiring in continuous mode the weights of the cylinders in the feed and withdrawal (F/W) stations and how to derive conclusions concerning the operation of the plant (conformity or not with respect to "normal" operation).

Furthermore the different diversion scenarios for GCEP are discussed and we show how mass monitoring techniques can contribute to detect each of them.

Finally we resume the advantages and limitations of the technique and outline some important practical issues concerning the implementation of process monitoring in GCEP, in particular for what concerns the inspectorate/operator relationships.

Load cell monitoring could play an important role in the safeguard implementation of future GCEPs.