Nuclear Material Accountancy Lessons Learned from the Three Mile Island (TMI) and Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP) Accidents with Potential Application for Nuclear Material Accountancy at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station

The Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in 2011 led to the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (1F) and subsequent meltdown of the reactor cores of Units 1, 2, and 3. The Japanese project on material accountancy technology development for fuel debris of Units 1-3 of 1F has been implemented under the roadmap, “Mid-and-long-Term Roadmap towards the Decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Units 1-4” with recovery of the fuel debris starting in 2020. Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and United States Department of Energy / National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) have agreed to collaborate to investigate past experience on material control at TMI-2 and ChNPP. This paper describes the material accountancy processes employed on the damaged TMI and ChNPP nuclear materials. This paper also explores how the material forms retrieved from these accidents could be placed under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards, and identifies material characteristics that may be encountered at Fukushima Daiichi that would impede the application of safeguards.