NUCLEAR AND RADIOLOGICAL RISK REDUCTIONS: PROGRAM MANAGEMENT AND RISK MITIGATION ON A GLOBAL SCALE

President Obama stated during his April 2009 Prague Speech, “Today, I am announcing a new international effort to secure all vulnerable nuclear material around the world within four years. We will set new standards, expand our cooperation with Russia, and pursue new partnerships to lock down these sensitive materials.” The U.S. Department of Energy’s Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) plays a major role in achieving President Obama’s goal. To date, GTRI has planned and executed over 1,000 projects in over 100 countries. This presentation discusses the threat reduction results, program management challenges and project risk mitigation actions that GTRI is addressing. The concepts of program, portfolio, and project management have been adapted to the global scope of GTRI’s efforts, including: • Methods in place to organize, plan, schedule, monitor and control GTRI threat reduction activities • Tools and processes in place to effectively track and articulate results • Risk identification and mitigation methods used on the many interrelated technical, political, health, economic, environmental, and logistical risks that exist at all levels. • Practices in place for the continued improvement in our management and technical methods, including using an independent Technical Evaluation Team • A summary of overall progress to date in reaching GTRI goals and the remaining challenges that lie ahead.