The United States Department of Energy Nuclear Materials Stewardship Initiative

The U.S. Department of Energy launched the Nuclear Materials Stewardship Initiative (NMSI) in January 2000 to accelerate the work of achieving integration and cutting long-term costs associated with the management of nuclear materials, with the principal focus on excess materials. The effective management of nuclear materials is important to the U.S. for a set of reasons: 1) some materials are vital to our national defense; 2) the materials pose physical and security risks; 3) managing them is costly; and 4) management of materials is likely to extend well into the future. Management of nuclear materials is a fundamental and enduring responsibility that is essential to meeting the Department’s national security, nonproliferation, energy, science, and environmental missions into the distant future. This paper seeks to report on the progress and remaining challenges in implementing a coherent and forward-thinking approach to management of these materials through their entire life cycle, from production to use or disposal.