Advanced Reactor Nuclear Safeguards Workshop at Texas AM University

摘要

In partnership with the International Safeguards Technical Division of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management (INMM), the INMM Student Chapter at Texas A&M University hosted a workshop on the topic of nuclear safeguards for advanced nuclear reactors on April 23rd-25th, 2019 on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. This workshop will gather experts on the topics of nuclear reactor safeguards and advanced (generation Ⅳ) nuclear reactor designs to discuss safeguards implementations for these reactors. With the great advancements that companies like NuScale and Terrestrial Energy have made toward implementing their advanced reactor designs, the topic of advanced reactors is widely discussed. However, these discussions have largely been on the economic merits of the designs with a notable lack of discussion on nuclear safeguards of their nuclear materials. As these advanced reactors are developed and built, it is important that nuclear safeguards develop in tandem for these new reactors to operate efficiently while continuing to prevent the diversion and misuse of nuclear materials. This workshop will aim to allow experts the opportunity to give lectures while fostering discussion on these topics, particularly how current safeguards techniques can apply to these new reactor designs and how they will need to advance. Additionally, this workshop will allow experts and attendees to begin to approach a consensus on the current state of the art of these advanced designs and how to safeguard their materials. This paper reports on the topics discussed and any conclusions that resulted from this workshop.