Development of a Methodology to Assess Proliferation Resistance and Physical Protection for Generation IV Systems

Abstract

Enhanced proliferation resistance and physical protection (PR&PP) is one of the technology goals for advanced nuclear concepts, such as Generation IV systems. Under the auspices of the Generation IV International Forum, the Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology of the U.S. DOE, the Office of Nonproliferation Policy of the National Nuclear Security Administration, and participating organizations from six other countries are sponsoring an international working group to develop an evaluation methodology for PR&PP. This methodology will permit an objective PR&PP comparison between alternative nuclear systems (e.g., different reactor types or fuel cycles) and support design optimization to enhance robustness against proliferation, theft and sabotage. The paper summarizes the proposed assessment methodology including the assessment framework, measures used to express the PR&PP characteristics of the system, threat definition, system element and target identification, pathway identification and analysis, and estimation of the measures