WASTE MANAGEMENT | AUDIT TRAILS FOR WASTE
Right:
At Sellafield one in five steps of the nuclear waste tracking process relies on paper or manual steps Photo credit: ONR
prototype, known as SLAFKA, that uses distributed ledger
technology for tracking nuclear material at the national level. The prototype demonstrated how DLT could be used to validate data trustworthiness and increase efficiencies in reporting and information sharing. SLAFKA demonstrated that nuclear material accounting
data can be tracked, streamlined, and reconciled. DLT essentially serves as a single, continuous inventory change report, with data being added in near real time enabling operators and regulators to monitor changes as they occur. This improves the effectiveness of routine inspection plans and allows regulators to provide more immediate feedback about the quality of information reported. These results could be particularly relevant for the UK’s
Safeguards Information Management and Reporting System (SIMRS) which is used for compiling data under the UK Voluntary Offer Agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). According to the Office for Nuclear Regulation Safeguards Annual Report, there were more than 1,000 reports with hundreds of thousands of lines of data compiled for the 2022 reporting period. In 2020, a partnership on a proof of concept between
Digital Catapult, the UK authority on advanced digital technology, Sellafield, and DataTrails demonstrated DLT as a tool to address productivity challenges and data sharing issues across the NDA’s nuclear estate, specifically tracking low-level nuclear waste. With approximately 20% of the steps in tracking nuclear waste relying on paper or manual traceability, the solution had to:
● Provide global waste visibility ● Deliver continuous information assurance with accessibility, security, and resilience
● Integrate with existing internet of things (IoT) sensors ● Allow device-agnostic access ● Ensure compliance with waste acceptance criteria ● Result in cost savings and process improvements.
This partnership successfully demonstrated an easy, efficient way to capture data across Sellafield’s entire digital estate without changing existing databases or data capture techniques to provide a single source of truth. SLAFKA and the Sellafield POCs have shown that DLT can
eliminate errors, save time and significantly reduce costs by improving data transparency, multi-party coordination and multi-party visibility. This is achieved through item- level traceability and audit trails, in line with national and international rules and regulations. DLT can also be integrated into existing data management systems and enhance physical inspection processes (whether for safety, security or safeguards) including compliance and audit reporting.
Other nuclear regulators and operators are starting to
consider blockchain technology for tracking nuclear assets and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has included DLT on the agenda of its Emerging Technologies workshops since 2018. It is becoming understood as a technology that reinforces resistance to disruption, providing immutable audit trails for generations to come. ■
Right: Blockchain is the single source of truth for a distributed set of participants
24 | January 2024 |
www.neimagazine.com
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