Inventory Characterization for Planning and Executing Effective Nuclear Material Management, Consolidation and Disposition

Extensive data in readily accessible forms are required to enable planning and execution of effective and efficient nuclear material management, consolidation and disposition. Due to the complexity of managing changing nuclear material inventories, information such as Material Control and Accountability (MC&A) data, which is needed to support normal operations, must be supplemented. The Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) are engaged in an ongoing process of reconfiguring the complex of nuclear facilities to better align with present and future missions. The focus of material management activities has shifted over the years from production of nuclear materials to support growing nuclear arsenals to the preservation of required nuclear materials and consolidation and disposition of excess nuclear materials. Protection of nuclear materials from theft, diversion or other unauthorized uses has received high priority all along, and comprehensive data and information collection processes are in place for these purposes. But the need to develop effective strategies, processes and projects to preserve national assets and simultaneously reduce the quantities of materials and the number of locations where they are handled and stored is a relatively recent development, and inventory characterization data for these purposes are less readily available. The DOE Nuclear Material Inventory Assessment (NMIA) database is evolving to satisfy the need for planning data to fill this information gap. Through the use of additional data fields and tags, the NMIA enables linking of traditional quantity measures required for safeguards and security and tracked in the Nuclear Material Management and Safeguards System (NMMSS) with other important attributes which must be taken into account. Examples of supplemental data are Item Description Codes specifying primary form, secondary form, form detail and function or status for each item. Supplemental data indicate whether the material is required by national security programs, associated with national commitments or treaty obligations, or if there are any other applicable restrictions. Most recent supplemental data include disposition group identifiers, packaging systems in use, and date of packaging. A well designed and populated database that integrates with other data sources is essential for efficient and effective analysis, planning and reporting of nuclear materials.