The Ural Electrochemical Integrated Plant Sustainability Program of Nuclear Material Protection, Control and Accounting System Upgrades

The Ural Electrochemical Integrated Plant (UEIP), located in Novouralsk, Russia, has cooperated with the US Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration (US DOE/NNSA) Material Protection Control and Accounting (MPC&A) Program since 1996 on nuclear material security upgrades. Since the commissioning of the upgraded site in 2004, UEIP has been working on a comprehensive sustainability program that includes establishing a site sustainability working group, information gathering, planning, organizing, developing schedule and estimated costs, and signing joint UEIP-US DOE/NNSA National Laboratory sustainability contracts. Considerable efforts have been necessary in the sustainability planning, monitoring, and control of the scope of work using tools such as Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Project and SAP R/3. While information interchanges within the sustainability program provides adequate US assurances that US funds are well spent through its quarterly reporting methodology, proper information security and protection measures are taken throughout the process. Decommissioning of outdated equipment has also become part of determining sustainability requirements and processes. The site’s sustainability program has facilitated the development of a transition plan toward eventual full Russian funding of sustaining nuclear security upgrades.