System Security: Rethinking Security for Facilities with Nuclear Materials

摘要

Security at facilities holding special nuclear materials (SNM) has been a concern since the discovery of fission and more countries pursuing nuclear power as an alternative energy source (the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam, e.g.) or developing suspected nuclear weapons programs (North Korea and Iran, e.g.) only increases the pressure to develop effective security systems. Two recent, high-profile incidents - the 2007 armed incursion of South Africa's Pelindaba Nuclear Research Center and the 2012 security breach at the U.S. Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee - make this pressure a stark reality. The first demonstrates the advanced capabilities of today's adversaries and the second the ability for mild-mannered protesters to defeat an 'insurmountable' security system - both cases illustrate shortcomings in traditional approaches to nuclear security.