TRANSITIONING MPC&A UPGRADES TO SUSTAINABILITY AT LARGE COMPLEXES

The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) Material Protection Control and Accounting (MPC&A) Program has been working in Russia since 1994. The primary focus of that work has been to improve the security of Russian weapons-usable nuclear material by supporting enhancements to the physical protection and material control and accounting systems at Russian nuclear civilian and defense sites. MPC&A upgrades at several civilian research sites were completed and commissioned between 1995 and 1998, and have been operating in a sustainability mode since completion. In 2002, upgrades were completed at the first large civilian site in Russia, the FSUE Scientific Research Institute of the Scientific and Industrial Association, LUCH, located in Podolsk, Russia. In fiscal year 2004, upgrades are scheduled to be completed at a number of other large civilian sites. In addition, newly appointed NNSA Administrator Ambassador Linton Brooks has underscored the importance of continuing to maintain vigorous sustainability efforts as more sites complete MPC&A upgrades and move into sustainability. This paper discusses the experience of the MPC&A Program as it transitions its activities at these large complex sites from the design and implementation of security upgrades to applying measures that will help to ensure that those upgrades, associated risk reduction, and appropriate procedures will continue to function effectively. It identifies key components of the MPC&A sustainability planning for large sites and lessons-learned from sustainability efforts at other sites, and specifically examines the approach to and initial experience of implementing sustainability at LUCH and how similar approaches can be used at other large complexes transitioning to sustainability in the near future. The MPC&A Program continues to develop and refine an Operations Criteria Document (OpsCD) to facilitate program-wide implementation of sustainability activities. An additional approach to the transition from upgrades to sustainability recently taken by the Office of Material Consolidation and Civilian Sites is to organize in-depth workshops at which both US and Russian perspectives on MPC&A operational sustainability are presented, followed by smaller group sessions with appropriate subject matter experts (i.e., material control and accounting, physical protection) during which concrete issues and planning were discussed in view of specific site concerns, management structure, business environment, etc. Both the MPC&A OpsCD and recent experiences with a sustainability workshop will be presented.