A fully computerized Nuclear Material Accountancy and Control (NMAC) system will soon be in place at the Russian Mayak reprocessing plant located in Ozersk in the Chelyabinsk region. The project is the first one of its kind to conceive and implement such a system in a Russian designed nuclear reprocessing facility.
After validation, the complete system is likely to become a prototype for all Russian reprocessing plants. This important achievement marks a significant step forward in securing nuclear material in the Russian Federation.
The project started in March 2006 under the TACIS nuclear safeguards programme, a technical project implemented by the European Commission to secure nuclear material in the countries of the former Soviet Union.
The nuclear installations of Mayak Production Association need to be modernised in order to comply with safeguards agreements pursuant to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). New instruments, techniques and computerized systems have to be implemented to assure the quality of nuclear material accountancy and control requested by new Russian regulations at different stages of spent fuel reprocessing and production of plutonium dioxide and uranium final products.
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