NGUYEN Ninh Giang et AL

AN OVERVIEW OF VIETNAM'S RESEARCH ACTIVITIES ON EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES FOR NUCLEAR SECURITY IN THE DIGITAL AGE: CURRENT OPPORTUNITIES, FUTURE OUTLOOK AND THE IAEA SUPPORT

NGUYEN NINH GIANGVietnam Agency for Radiation and Nuclear SafetyHanoi, VietnamEmail: giangnn@most.gov.vn

VUONG TUAN NAMHo Chi Minh City Customs DepartmentHo Chi Minh city, VietnamEmail: namvt2@customs.gov.vn

PHAN HUU PHATBa Ria – Vung Tau Customs DepartmentBa Ria – Vung Tau , VietnamEmail: phanhuuphat@gmail.com

AbstractThe list and the fields of emerging technologies in the digital age may have endless applications, but it can be

categorized into several major workforces, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), big data, machine learning (ML)/ artificial intelligence (AI), encryption and communication technologies. Undergone more than 10 years in the development of nuclear security regime, Vietnam is one of the Member States which actively collaborated with the IAEA and other countries to equip the technology in the field of nuclear security. Entered in the fourth generation of the industrial revolution, like many other developing countries, Vietnam has faced a number of opportunities and challenges in sustaining and strengthening the national nuclear security regimes.

In the last few years, Vietnam has conducted several research projects and international collaboration program in the subject of new science and technology for nuclear security concerns, especially the IAEA Coordinated Research Project (CRP) code J02005, entitled: “improved assessment of initial alarms from radiation detection instruments” and the CRP code J02012, entitled: “advancing radiation detection equipment for detecting nuclear and other radioactive out of material out of regulatory control”.

This paper presents an overview picture of Vietnam on-going research and development activities on emerging technology in the digital age for nuclear security concerns, including: joint efforts to the IAEA and other partner countries in building big data for border detection, machine learning for support the front line officer’s decision making, communication technologies for radiation detection equipment and physical protection system, potential blockchain for the national integrated nuclear security network . The existing infrastructure, opportunities and desired future developments will be shared and discussed. A primary objective of this paper is to foster for using science and technology to sustain and strengthen the nuclear security regime in Vietnam as well as the other Member States, with the IAEA coordination and assistance.

1. INTRODUCTION

The integrated nuclear security support plan (INSSP) was developed for Vietnam in July 2011 and updated every three years, the first in 2014 and the second time 2018. In the five functions of the INSSP, prevention and detection are two of the primary function areas to effectively reduce the threat of unauthorized activities that could lead to the nuclear security events at the designed point of entries (PoEs) and the Interior. In Vietnam, the national legislative and regulatory framework in the field of nuclear security has been considered and developed early in the 2000s, but the nuclear security technical infrastructure has been established in recent 10 years.

Due to the new development and constantly changing of science and technology, the nuclear security technical infrastructure, especially in the detection area, has exposed some technical limitations and difficulties for competent authorities to perform their tasks according to assigned function and responsibilities. Therefore, the review and assessment of current architecture are the important mission and the needed for future improvements will be pointed out for implementation of the nuclear security in prevention and detection functions in the INSSP more effectively and innovated.

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2. VIETNAM PREVENTION AND DETECTION ARCHITECTURE

Vietnam has a long history of using radioactive sources and nuclear materials in many applications, including research, industries, agriculture, medical diagnostic and treatment. Be aware of the prime importance of ensuring safety and security, Vietnam Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety (VARANS) – the Regulatory Body of Vietnam has established and aimed at a comprehensive regime and infrastructure. In the area of nuclear security, Vietnam Government has developed capabilities in all aspects including: prevention, detection, delay and response with the cooperation of different organizations as showed in fig. (1).

FIG 1. State management structure in preparedness and response to nuclear security events in Vietnam

FIG 2. Three management and response level for nuclear security area in Vietnam

Nuclear and other radioactive materials will be managed and the preparedness and response activities in Vietnam are divided into three level of parties the national agencies, the provincial departments where the associated facilities located and the licensees [1] corresponding to emergency response level at national, provincial and facility level as showed in fig. (2).

In the prevention architecture, the vital objective is to prevent the unauthorized activities relating to theft, sabotage, access and transfer of associated materials and associated facilities. All authorized activities related to the nuclear and other radioactive materials, which include import/export, transport, using, storage, must declare and apply for license by using of the national managing and registry system named Viet Nam’s customized

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Regulatory Authority Information System (RAIS-VN) . The overview functions of RAIS-VN is shown in fig. (3).

FIG 3. Overview of RAIS-VN functions

The Department of Energy, United States of America, in the framework of the Global Threat Reduction Initiative program, has supported Viet Nam in installing and maintaining the physical protection system for Da Lat Research Reactor and the security system for radiation facilities with category I radioactive sources. For the mobile radioactive sources, such as a radiography source, Vietnam government has supported the licensee for installing additional tracking system named as RADLOT to manage the mobile source online. The RADLOT and source category I security system showed in fig. (4) and fig. (5), respectively.

FIG 4. RADLOT system FIG 5. Security system for source Cat. I

FIG 6. RPMs network in Vietnam

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In the detection architecture, through the cooperative program with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the National Nuclear Security Administration, Department of Energy, USA, Vietnam has installed 12 Pedestrian Radiation Portal Monitors at the airport and 16 Vehicle Radiation Portal Monitors at two different seaports [2] as showed in fig (6). An example of communication and management network from the borders to different competent authorities is shown in fig (7).

There are a great number of personal radiation detections (PRDs), radioisotope identification devices (RIDs) and radiation searching devices were equipped to the frontline officers which create a detection network infrastructure in Vietnam. These devices are currently used in various activities, such as Major Public event, emergency response and other normal activities (for example: detection, monitoring …).

FIG 7. Integrated Nuclear Security Network from border to the competent authorities in Vietnam

3. VIETNAM CURRENT RESEARCH AND COLLABORATION ACTIVITIES ON NUCLEAR SECURITY

For more than 10 years of establishment and operation the nuclear security technical infrastructure, Vietnam has recognized a number of challenges and limitations in several aspects as following:

- In communication method: as in most of the Member States, the official communication channels are telephone, emails and official paper. The needed data are hard to define and cannot be sent in a very short time;

- Vietnam has several management systems and servers, including: RAIS-VN, RADLOT, Source Cat. I security system, and INSN, in which: + Each system requires the user to work from a desktop workstation; + Each system is compatible with only limited type of equipment and vender;+ Each system requires a specific training program for the user;

- For handheld equipment: there is no current platform to store and transfer data by internet and can be used in an application in mobile phone.

In the last few years, Vietnam has conducted several research projects and international collaboration program in the subject of new science and technology for nuclear security concerns, especially the IAEA Coordinated Research Project CRP code J02005, entitled: “improved assessment of initial alarms from radiation detection instruments” and the CRP code J02012, entitled: “advancing radiation detection equipment for detecting nuclear and other radioactive out of material out of regulatory control”. These research activities have been contributed for promising to enhance the national prevention and detection architecture.

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NGUYEN Ninh Giang et AL

The potential applications of the emerging research and technologies for nuclear security in the digital age can be categorized into several major workforces, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), big data, machine learning (ML)/ artificial intelligence (AI), encryption and communication technologies.

IoT is an interconnection of equipment, devices for collecting and transferring data over a network, hence its application can be used to resolve the limitations of connection and communication between nuclear security detectors (such as RPM and Handheld equipment) to a central alarm station and/or an alarm support center with the IoT short-range wireless and medium-range connection applications. Under the IAEA CRP code J02012, the enabling technology for IoT short-range connections currently are Bluetooth mesh networking and local area networking WIFI and the medium range through mobile cellular network.

The idea of a national integrated system that can be used for either material under regulatory control (MURC) and material outside of regulatory control (MORC) using IoT applications is as following proposals:

- For the MURC, all needed information about the facilities, type of radioactive sources and/or nuclear material can be stored and referred as an ID, this ID is unique for the national system.

- For the MORC, the information on location, dose rate, type of event can be connected and transferred through a national platform, which can easily assess and manage by a central national contact point – such as Regulatory body.

The proposed for a national integrated system’s software, interface, and example of different mode for border protection and MPE are shown in fig (8) – (10), respectively [3].

FIG 8. Proposed function and interface for a national integrated communication and control system

FIG 9. Proposed function and interface for a national integrated communication and control system for border detection mode

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(a) (b)

FIG 10. Proposed function and interface for a national integrated communication and control system for MPE mode in structure (a) and display (b)

In order to support FLOs for alarm assessment from the Vehicle – type RPMs, the IAEA led a CRP code J02005 entitled: “improved assessment of initial alarms from radiation detection instruments” to build up a big data library for NORM alarming containers and using machine learning technique and launched the mobile application Tool for Radiation Alarm and Commodity Evaluation (TRACE). TRACE served as a supporting tool for FLOs in initial alarm assessment and provided detailed information from the NORM cargoes. In the future, the AI use neural networks can be considered and further developed in TRACE or other similar tool in order to support FLOs in decision making and management process for detection and response to nuclear security events.

Over the last few years, as the variety of data exchanged across network has rapidly increased, the concern of secure data and communications has become a major issue and Blockchain as a type of distributed ledger technology (DLT) – has become a potential innovation solution of ensuring the integrity of data, information flows and data traceability in nuclear security. The application of Blockchain technology can be applied for nuclear material accounting and control, insider threat mitigation, incident and response reporting… In Vietnam, there are several funded projects for DLT application and the concerned to nuclear sector has been considered.

4. CONCLUSION

In an era when technology is rapidly evolving, the new research and technologies for nuclear security in the Internet of Things (IoT), big data, machine learning (ML)/ artificial intelligence (AI), encryption and communication technologies are positioned its applications as dominate innovation solutions and shape the future nuclear security regime alongside to emerging threats.

This paper aims to foster for using science and technology to sustain and strengthen the nuclear security regime and its future applications may facilitate more effective and efficient collaboration between related stakeholders.

REFERENCES

[1] The National Assembly, Atomic Energy Law, Vietnam, (2008). [2] Nguyen Ninh Giang’s presentation, “INSN Member States feedback - Vietnam”, presented at the

IAEA, the Consultancy Meeting to Support Design and Development of Advanced Systems for Sustainable EU Equipment Projects, 29 January - 2 February 2018, Vienna Austria.

[3] Nguyen Ninh Giang’s presentation, “Integrated Nuclear Security Network Current Status and Desired Future Improvements”, presented at the IAEA, the second technical meeting on Radiation Detection Instruments for nuclear security, 16-20 April 2018, Vienna Austria.

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NGUYEN Ninh Giang et AL

Presenter’s BioNguyen Ninh Giang is working for Vietnam Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety (VARANS), Ministry of Science and Technology, Vietnam. He holds master’s degree in Nuclear Security and Safeguards from Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand which sponsored by a scholarship from European Commission's CBRN Centres of Excellence. Currently, Giang is a leader of a technical support group for nuclear security in VARANS, and he is keeping motivation on Nuclear Security field. Giang is also serving as a Chief scientific investigator to the IAEA Coordinated Research Project in “Advancing Radiation Detection Equipment for Detecting Nuclear and Other Radioactive Material out of Regulatory Control”.

Contact information:

Nguyen Ninh Giang

3rd Floor, 76 Nguyen Truong To

Ba Dinh, Ha Noi

Vietnam

Tel: +84 9133939

Email: giangnn@ most.gov.vn

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