Identification And Nomination Of National Nuclear Materials Archive Specimens At Oak Ridge National Laboratory

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office of Nuclear Forensics (NA-83) has designated National Nuclear Materials Archive (NNMA) sites to identify, analyze, and preserve samples of nuclear material of forensic value. The National Nuclear Material Archive is led and managed by the NA-83, which is located in the Counterterrorism and Counterproliferation Office of the NNSA. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is one of the designated NNMA sites and has made substantial progress in the last year towards identifying and documenting material of forensic value. The identification and selection process for material to be selected for the archive at ORNL were guided by NA-83 strategy documents. Subject matter experts in both the ORNL nuclear material inventories and nuclear material production histories worked to evaluate and document material to meet archive requirements. Documentation efforts for consideration for the archive involve compilation of the necessary nuclear materials items’ known pedigree and characteristics that prove the value for nuclear forensics. ORNL is the first NNMA site to complete identification and nomination of all on-site nuclear materials items that satisfy NNMA demand.