The Institute of Nuclear Physics is located in a remote, wooded area approximately 30 kilometers outside of Tashkent. Founded in 1956 as part of the Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences, INP has a staff of 2,200 people that monitor the operations of a 10 megawatt research reactor. Often described as the largest facility of its kind in Central Asia, INP has an ambitious program to become the primary nuclear research and isotope production facility for the region. Today, the facility maintains fresh and irradiated nuclear fuel storage facilities to support continued reactor operations. Under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAFA) guidelines, facilities that store or process significant amounts of direct-use nuclear materials must protect against theft by both an external threat, such as a terrorist group, or an internal threat, such as a site employee. Protecting fresh and spent fuel stored at INP was identified as a primary nonproliferation concern. The main objective of physical protection upgrades at INP is to protect the reactor complex which consists of the administration building which contains the reactor control room and the reactor building which also houses the spent fuel storage pool.

In June 1995, the IAEA convened MPC&A specialists from Australia, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States to review MPC&A needs at INP. Australia and Sweden agreed to provide assistance in the areas of material control and accounting (MC&A), while the L.K. and the U.S. agreed to provide physical protection upgrades (PP). After the Department of Energy obtained budget authorization in September 1995, contracts with INP personnel were initiated for the design of a physical protection system and the purchase and installation of equipment. Working in collaboration with donor states, facility upgrades were completed in August 1096.

The MPC&A improvements at INP represent a significant accomplishment in U.S.-Uzbekistan cooperative efforts to reduce the risk of unauthorized use, theft or diversion of weapons-usable nuclear materials. The improved security of nuclear materials at INP also represents a success in efforts to reduce the global threat of nuclear proliferation.

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