Limited Notice Performance Testing - A Material Control and Accountability Perspective

The U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) independent Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) has been conducting Limited Notice Performance Tests (LNPTs) for over two years to assess the effectiveness of specific elements of safeguards and security programs at DOE sites. The LNPT process supplements traditional multi-topic assessments by providing more realistic evaluations of selected topical areas of a site’s safeguards and security program. Typically, each LNPT activity consists of two days of on-site data collection with minimal advance notice to personnel and facilities being tested, followed by one day to develop a draft report and communicate results to site management. EA conducts multiple LNPTs during a single assessment activity, covering one or more of the following individual topical areas: Program Management; Physical Security Systems; Protective Force; and Material Control and Accountability (MC&A). This paper focuses on the LNPT process from an MC&A perspective. MC&A assessment personnel have used experience gained during the past two years to modify and improve the overall LNPT process, develop new and enhanced LNPT data collection forms, and streamline reporting of results. These LNPTs provide data supporting the mature and robust nature of MC&A at DOE’s Category I special nuclear material facilities. In the spring of 2015, EA began including integrated tests of multiple topical areas in some LNPT activities. Incorporation of MC&A testing into these integrated tests also will be discussed.