As industry is the first line of defense in detecting and thwarting illicit trade networks, the engagement of the private sector is critical to any government effort to strengthen existing mechanisms to protect goods and services throughout the supply chain. This study builds on previous PNNL...

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 brought to light threats and vulnerabilities that face the United States. In response, the U.S. Government is directing the effort to secure the nation's critical infrastructure by creating programs to implement the National Strategy to Secure...

Analysis of the data obtained in one year of plutonium accounting at Los Alamos reveals significant complexity. Much of this complexity arises from the complexity of the processes themselves. Additional complexity is induced by errors in the data entry process. It is important to note that there...

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 brought to light threats and vulnerabilities that face the United States. In response, the U.S. Government is directing the effort to secure the nation's critical infrastructure by creating programs to implement the National Strategy to Secure...

Materials accounting for special nuclear material in fuel cycle facilities is implemented more efficiently by applying decision analysis methods, based on estimation and detection theory, to analyze process data for missing material. These methods are incorporated in the computer program...

Three specific models are investigated: (1) diversion and k distinct falsifications (k + 1 degrees of freedom); (2) diversion and the accumulation of all the falsifications (2 degrees of freedom); (3) diversion only (1 degree of freedom). A test statistic has been derived for models (1) and (2)...

Good decision-making in materials accounting requires a valid calculation of control limits and detection sensitivity for facilities handling special nuclear materials (SNM). A difficult aspect of this calculation is determining the appropriate variance and covariance values for the terms in the...

This paper summarizes a quantitative tool developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to aid the NRC in establishing Material Control and Accounting (MC and A) regulations for safeguarding Special Nuclear Material (SNM). Illustrative Value-Impact results of demonstrating the methodology...

Error propagation/variance calculations are used for establishing alarm limits for materials balance closures. Variance calculations may also be employed in the evaluation of accounting system designs for a proposed facility, as well as for upgrades of existing facilities. Information from such...

The last years have witnessed a dramatic shift of the world`s military, political, and economic paradigm from a bi-polar competitive gridlock to a more fluid, multi-player environment. This change has necessarily been followed by a re-evaluation of the strategic thinking and by a reassessment of...