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Nuclear Safeguards Education Portal

Optical surveillance device

Photo related to the term with caption below

The All in One Surveillance Unit, commonly known as ALIS, like the one in the picture is a mains-operated, fully self-contained digital surveillance system. ALIS can record between 40,000 and 50,000 images, depending on the data compression used in the system.

(Source: Dean Calma/IAEA)

A device used to provide, for later review, a visual record of activities in a defined field of view; it is used to monitor movements of material or handling of equipment under surveillance during the absence of the inspector. Surveillance systems, often comprising several surveillance devices, are used at spent fuel storage pools and storage areas and on a temporary basis during reactor refuelling. The frequency of recording images is set as needed for the activities of interest to be recorded. It is set in accordance with the estimated time required for the activities that are intended to be recorded by the system, while these activities are in the field of view of the system. The exchange of data storage media items (e.g. tapes or disks) and the evaluation of the recorded information are implemented in accordance with the capacity of the system and the timeliness requirements. Some surveillance systems are used in remote monitoring applications. Current surveillance systems use video equipment configured as single or multicamera systems, which provide for fixed interval, random or triggered picture taking, and involve digital data processing; some earlier systems were designed to use automatically triggered film cameras.