Ambassador Celso de Souza Visits ABACC
ABACC’s Secretaries welcome ambassador
Celso Marcos de Souza (on the right) |
The ambassador Celso Marcos Vieira de Souza, who in the future
shall represent Brazil at the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA), visited ABACC on March, 23 rd. On that occasion, the
ambassador received informations about the activities performed
by ABACC and was able to get acquainted with all the sectors
of the agency and to see the equipments that shall be utilized
for the application of the safeguards at the uranium enrichment
plant of Indústrias Nucleares do Brasil (INB), in Resende.
Showing great interest for ABACC’s work, the ambassador
commented that he shall support the agency’s activities
from his new position at the IAEA.
Meeting of ABACC’s Commission
The first of the three yearly meetings of ABACC’s Commission was held on
April, 6 th. In a friendly and profitable atmosphere, the representatives of
ABACC and of the Brazilian and Argentine governments discussed several issues
related to the agency’s activities. On that occasion, the Economic and
Financial Balance for 2003, the External Audit Report and the Report of Activities
of 2003 were presented to the Commission, being agreed upon that the last shall
be published still during the first half of this year.
Coordination Meeting with the IAEA
Representatives of ABACC and the IAEA during a meeting |
The 18 th Coordination Meeting between ABACC and the
IAEA was held on March, 24 and 25. On that opportunity,
both agencies reviewed the situation of the application
of safeguards in the frame of the Quadripartite Agreement.
Furthermore, there was an exchange of informations on the
inspection activities planned for the next six months;
operational activities presenting a great urgency were
agreed upon; the requests for the updating and acquisition
of new equipments were reviewed; and opinions were interchanged
on the joint inspection forms, on the procedures for the
common use of equipments, as well as on the safeguards
approaches. Besides, both agencies made comments on the
relevant aspects of their independent conclusions regarding
the evaluation of the results of inspections concerning
the year of 2003.
Coordination Meeting with CNEN
The first coordination meeting of 2004 with the National Brazilian Authority
(CNEN) was held at the beginning of February. The revision of the terms of the
Agreement of Mutual Cooperation, signed in 1993, brought forward the convenience
of introducing in it a mechanism which shall allow it to be renewed automatically.
The present status of the Projects of Technical Cooperation was analyzed in the
frame of this Agreement, and general guide-lines were established for the capacitation
of inspectors as well as for the participation in working groups. Furthermore,
the responsible officers for CNEN’s Coordination of Safeguards informed
ABACC on the novelties which are expected at short terms at the Brazilian facilities,
particularly at the nuclear power plants and and the enrichment plants. Finally,
some pending issues concerning the implementation of safeguards were discussed
by the parties, with the purpose to coordinate in an adequate manner the efforts
of each of the parties in order to optimize the application of safeguards in
Brazil.
Coordination Meeting with the ARN
The first coordination meeting of the year between ABACC and the National Argentine
Authority (ARN) was held on March, 15 th, at the ARN’s headquarters. On
that occasion, the status of the Technical Cooperation between CNEN and the ARN
was reviewed, as well as several operational aspects, training programs, the
convocation of the inspectors and the status of the Design Information Questionnaires
and the Facility Attachment of the Argentine facilities. Besides the mentioned
topics, the questions related to the application of safeguards in the nuclear
power plants of Atucha I and Embalse were analyzed in full detail, and courses
of action regarding the issues presenting a great urgency were agreed upon. The
results of the NDA and DA measures adopted during inspections were also presented
and analyzed. In general, the meeting was very constructive, embracing all the
issues of common interest.
A period of new qualifications
Between April 19 and 23, the Accounting Sector of ABACC
continued with its discussions with the IAEA and with the
training of its inspectors in order to implement a joint
procedure between the ABACC and the IAEA for the auditing
of records during inspections, using a specific software
for this purpose. A text referred to Joint Procedures was
prepared, including instructions for the application of the
software —currently in its final preparation stage— and
a good number of IAEA inspectors have already been trained
in the operation of the program. The regular application
of these joint procedures is expected to start within the
first semester in 2004.
In order to recycle the inspectors’ knowledge concerning
the legal and operational base of safeguards application,
the ABACC has scheduled a training program on Inspection
Procedures aimed at all of its inspectors to take place
in 2004. The first course was held on April 26-27, in Buenos
Aires, with the participation of 24 inspectors. The program
included discussions on issues such as the Bilateral Agreement
between Brazil and Argentina, the objectives of the ABACC,
detection goals, deviation strategies, verification methods,
types of inspections, equipment for measurement, containment
and surveillance used by the ABACC and the Quadripartite
Agrement, among other. Additionally, a detailed presentation
was made on the Operations database system and on the new
structure of the inspection report.
On April 28 through 30, training sessions referred to the operation
of the neutron collar were held at Conuar’s Factory
of Fuel Elements in Ezeiza, Argentina. The event included the
presentation of the neutron collar theory and training referred
to the use of the INCC (Inspector Neutron Coincidence Code)
software and to the assembly of the measuring system. Measurements
were made of standardization and background, as well as of
the enrichment of a fuel element. During June this year, this
training must be performed for Brazilian inspectors at the
INB’s Factory of Fuel Elements, located in Resende.
ABACC’s participation in meetings at PNLL
Continuing in the activities of the project on the management of safeguards data,
officials from the ABACC participated in meetings of the Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory (PNNL), in Richland, USA, on March 1 and 3. During the visit, presentations
and discussions were held on several topics under development at the PNNL related
to security in networks and wireless systems. A seminar was scheduled for August
this year concerning security in networks and in data transmission, with the
participation of technicians from the PNNL.
Summary of the Activities Report January / February 2004
During the months of January and February, all of ABACC’s
sectors carried out their respective activities, such as
presented in the Working Plan for 2004. Regarding the procedures
for joint inspections with the IAEA, it was verified during
the inspection performed at the nuclear power plant of Angra
II that the working forms need to be updated and the surveillance
system needs a survey.
ABACC continued to accomplish routine and ad-hoc inspections
in several facilities of both countries, in coordination
with the IAEA. From January to February 2004, two inspections
were made in Argentine facilities and six in Brazilian facilities,
all of which required an inspection effort of 56 inspectors/day
in the field.
The software for the joint auditing of records (SJAR) continued
to be tested during the inspections carried out in January
and February. The instructions for the utilization of the software
SJAR as well as the procedures for its joint utilization were
elaborated and they were presented to and discussed with the
IAEA in March.
A technical visit was made to the nuclear fuel elements
fabrication plant in Resende, with the purpose of verifying
the positioning mechanism of the neutron collar. In this
respect, it was concluded that the adjusting mechanism is
appropriate for the displacements that are necessary to the
safeguards activities. Furthermore, ABACC received the components
required to assemble the surveillance system DMOS (Digital
Multichannel Optical Surveillance System) which shall be
employed in the enrichment plant of Resende. During the next
months, the necessary tests for the installation of this
system in the field shall be carried out. |
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