Equipment Management Solution for GAN

ABSTRACT

The implementation of new safeguards methodologies in the former Soviet republics creates a need for an equipment management system. The Equipment Management System (EMS) is a Microsoft Access 97 database software program designed to provide the inspectorate agencies with a real-time safeguards equipment database accessed through their local area network (LAN). As part of the Agreement between the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and the Federal Nuclear and Radiation Safety Authority (Gosatomnadzor or GAN) of Russia to cooperate on the national Nuclear Material Protection, Control, and Accounting (MPC&A), the adaptation and implementation of EMS will enable Gosatomnadzor to track the specialized equipment used by GAN inspectors. This paper will discuss the strategies for implementing this system at GAN. The Project 3 of the DOE/GAN Collaboration will assist GAN in the establishment of GAN regional Technical Support Units. The Technical Support Units will assist in the maintenance, calibration and management of the equipment used by GAN. The EMS addresses all phases of the safeguards instrument/equipment lifecycle, including equipment planning, acquisition, receipt, field distribution, tracking, configuration, calibration, maintenance, usage, performance monitoring, and final disposition.

STRUCTURE OF EMS

The scope of this Microsoft Access 97 database (EMS) is to provide a system in Russia for tracking equipment used by Gosatomnadzor inspectors. Project objectives include defining (1) EMS requirements and configuration, (2) descriptions of EMS functions, and (3) developing a user interface in the context of the GAN organizational structure.

The design of EMS will provide GAN with a real-time safeguards equipment database that is accessible through a local area network (LAN). The database will track various aspects of a piece of equipment, including its acquisition, receipt by GAN, field distribution, maintenance information, equipment tracking, performance in the field, and its final disposition. EMS is capable of maintaining 10,000 inventory items and 150,000 equipment history transactions in its current configuration.

EMS will provide the mechanism for GAN to identify the precise location and deployment status of each piece of equipment, properly schedule preventive maintenance and calibrations, record and track the performance of those maintenance activities, record any unscheduled maintenance, identify equipment requiring excessive maintenance, plan for new equipment needs, and document final end-of-life disposition. This capability will not only provide GAN the information needed to manage the equipment inventory, but will also provide their US counterparts with the information needed to provide parts, materials, service, training, and new items in a timely manner. The automated reporting features of EMS will enable the GAN personnel to generate both internal and external inventory and disposition reports whenever they are needed and with almost no delay.

Aquila is also working with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to create a Tamper Indicating Device (TID) derivation of the EMS database. This TID database will be capable of tracking the lifecycle of seals and TIDs used in GAN facilities and will have the same user interface as the GAN EMS database.

IMPLEMENTATION AND TRAINING

In addition to the design and development of EMS, Aquila is also responsible for providing training and implementation support as well as follow-up consultations for the adaptation and pilot use of the database. Initial use of the database by GAN is expected to occur in early 1999.

In June 1998, Aquila provided an introductory course for GAN representatives to acquaint them with the EMS database. During the course, students were introduced to the basic structure of the EMS database, functional properties of the database, data entry and reporting procedures, and security and access restrictions currently implemented. The group studied the database capabilities using, as an example, the American equipment that GAN received from the US to control the nuclear materials, and they provided feedback to programmers regarding differences in organizational procedures, equipment movement documents, warranty issues, and maintenance cycles.

DEVELOPMENT ISSUES

As in any international environment, the ability to bridge language and organizational differences is a challenge in this project. Because the database design should reflect the operations of the user’s organization, it was important to understand the day-to-day function of GAN. The integration of GAN’s organizational structure into EMS highlighted the differences between the typical structure based on a Department, Division, Section, Unit, etc., culminating to a responsible person versus an organizational structure based on geographic regions, cities, facilities, and ultimately a responsible person. Additionally, equipment movement requires specific documents, such as customs declarations, bills of lading, and other shipping forms to be prepared that are unique to equipment movement within Russia. In some instances, these forms are unique to the region to be shipped to, and in all cases these forms are unique for shipments destined outside of Russia. These forms are prepared automatically for each shipment based on the shipping destination and therefore must be maintained within the EMS application.

Although it is a completely new effort and development, EMS is "styled" in a very similar manner to the Equipment Management Information System (EMIS) as used by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The Aquila team developing EMS had prior experience as part of the development team for EMIS. Many of the issues raised by GAN participants to the project were also raised during the development of EMIS. Experience gained by the team members in EMIS was of particular value in the rapid presentation and adjudication of issues raised during the EMS development, producing a significant decrease in cost and development time.

NEXT STEPS

While GAN continues to finalize the logistics of interagency data collection and the use of this information, Aquila developers are modifying EMS according to the feedback received during the June training course and subsequent meetings. Once the functionality of EMS has been solidified, Aquila staff will translate the user interface into Russian. This will allow EMS to generate reports and forms in Russian, and it will provide users with Russian help files and menus. Implementation of this translation includes the use of the Russian version of Windows 95 with appropriate language extensions to the embedded RoboHelp. Aquila personnel assigned to this task have the advantage of having constructed the help system in English while having expertise in the Russian Language.

Computer hardware will be installed in Moscow and Novosibirsk in the Fall of 1998, after which Aquila will conduct on-site training with the newly modified Russian version of the database.

EXTENSIONS OF THE DATABASE WORK

Although GAN needs are a subset of the overall IAEA equipment management scheme, it is reasonable to assume that the use of EMS will provide GAN with an operating environment very similar to that used in distributing equipment, support, and the resultant performance monitoring as used by the IAEA. Additionally, EMS will have an enhanced use in that it will track TIDs and Seals both from an inventory and performance perspective.

Use of databases similar to those used in International applications should give GAN an advantage in presentation of its data, especially in the performance area, to other RF and International bodies. In addition, EMS provides a potential platform for equipment use, performance monitoring, and utilization on a Program basis, again with the associated minimization of cost and development time.