Ely began working at PNNL in 2002. During his time at the lab, he has served as the principal investigator for the Radiation Portal Monitor Project (focused on portal monitors along U.S. borders) and as the project manager for the Xenon International project (focused on a xenon measurement system for the International Monitoring System).
From 2013 to 2016, he took leave from the lab in 2013 to work in the IAEA’s Department of Safeguards within the Safeguards Technical and Scientific Services Division, where he helped develop new radiation detection equipment.
Ely currently manages PNNL’s safeguards technology development portfolio, which includes projects that develop safeguards instrumentation for the IAEA. He also leads the lab’s research and development efforts on the Low-Yield Nuclear Monitoring Program, with responsibility for nuclear explosion monitoring applications.
OLEM and UGES: The new UGES device represents an advancement over a previous enrichment monitoring device called the online enrichment monitor (OLEM), which was first used in 2016 when the IAEA installed one at the Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant in Iran. The OLEM device measures the amount of gaseous uranium, or uranium hexafluoride (UF6), that flows through the pipes of an enrichment plant.
PNNL, along with Oak Ridge and Los Alamos National Laboratories, helped develop that device. Ely led the IAEA team that evaluated the OLEM before it was used in Iran.
The UGES developed by Ely’s PNNL team is designed to increase the accuracy and speed—and reduce the cost—of the uranium measurements, compared with the OLEM. It has an array of detectors with two collimators, instead of the single gamma ray detector in the OLEM. The two collimators allow the UGES to provide real-time separate measurements of the gaseous uranium and the deposits that build up in the pipes, reducing the analysis time and increasing the precision.
Another advantage is that the UGES, at less than 30 pounds, is about half the weight and size of OLEM, allowing for easier installation and maintenance.
Testing: The initial testing of the UGES prototype will occur at the IAEA Centre of Excellence for Safeguards and Non-Proliferation in the upcoming months, according to PNNL. Ely and other PNNL researchers will assess the performance of the device and analyze the data collaboratively with the IAEA.
Following testing at the IAEA facility, the UGES will be ready for field testing. Ely said, “After testing the UGES at the center and demonstrating the improved capability, we hope the prototype will be turned into an engineered system in the field. The field data will be significant to show that it will work properly when installed. We want to work closely with the IAEA to develop a system that could be authorized and deployed for use in their safeguards missions.”
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