Sergei Postnov discusses the 'human factor' and the security objectives of the physical protection work at the Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute.

Sergei Postnov is the Chief of Security Services at the Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute.

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The Human Factor

2:40

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Transcript:

The Human Factor

Very briefly, my name is Sergei Postnov, I graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Avionics and Automation. I was responsible for technical support of all the physical protection systems, ensuring that they are all operating properly and in accordance to the requirements and maintained appropriately and since 2002, I became the security chief.

What we are trying to do is to minimize so-called “human factor” in ensuring proper operation of physical protection systems and provide the robust technical support of those systems. Both the physical protection and material accounting systems that we have pursue one main objective, which is to prevent any unauthorized access to the materials and such access may take forms of sabotage or diversion or theft of the material, and certainly we have to make everything possible using these systems, to prevent these materials getting into wrong hands.

Lately, as you know, the world is facing quite a formidable threat of terrorism, and we are doing our utmost based on these systems, to prevent terrorists laying their hands on nuclear material, as everyone can imagine, could have untold consequences.

Well, we have been collaborating with Canada and the Canadian team here for almost two years I would say, and we have virtually completed the first phase of our cooperation, which has been very successful, that is to upgrade the physical protection systems to our reactors, and we are on the threshold of a second phase so as you can see we are progressing quite successfully. As of this successful cooperation, we would be in a position to be in compliance with all of the physical protection requirements that are needed these days protect our reactors.