APPLICATION OF A DOE MATERIALS CONTROL AND ACCOUNTABILITY PROGRAM AT A RESEARCH LABORATORY

This paper presents a brief description of the application of the materials control and accountability (MC&A) program at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. ORNL is a multidiscipline research and development laboratory that is managed and operated for the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) by UT-Battelle, L.L.C. ORNL conducts basic research in wide-ranging fields such as neutron sciences, energy, materials sciences, biological systems, and unclassified computer systems. Currently, ORNL has accountable quantities of material in sixteen of the eighteen material types. The majority of the active inventory of accountable nuclear materials (NM) at the laboratory consists of small research samples, standards, capsules, and elements. ORNL is required to implement an MC&A Program by DOE Order 474.1A and DOE Manuals 474.1-1A and 474.1-2. The requirements in the DOE Order and Manuals are relatively prescriptive and are tailored toward a processing or production facility with a large inventory and throughput of accountable NM. The application of an MC&A Program with the appropriate amount of rigor to ensure the protection, control, and accounting of NM in this research environment is a challenge. This paper outlines the methods of implementation used at ORNL in the different areas of MC&A. Specific areas to be covered are measurements, measurement control, accounting systems, training, internal assessments, performance testing, and physical inventories.