Advancing the Development and Usage of the Y-12 National Security Complex Nuclear Material Inventory Assessment

Per DOE Order 5660.1B, “Management of Nuclear Materials,” the Nuclear Material Inventory Assessment (NMIA) is an annual requirement to assess nuclear material inventory relative to programmatic objectives. In response to this requirement, the Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12) Nuclear Material Management & Storage program provides the NMIA based on the end-of- fiscal-year inventory. Over the past 20 years, the reporting and submission requirements for the NMIA have evolved from summary level reports on four nuclear materials to an item level database containing detail data on all nuclear materials in inventory. The primary driver for change to an item level database was the need to identify surplus material at an item level. The process by which Y-12 has responded to these requirements has developed into an interactive database with a user interface in which data can be quickly analyzed in detail and summaries viewed in graphical format. The NMIA data has become a desirable asset at Y-12 and its usage has expanded as a source for the development of the Y-12 Nuclear Materials Management Plan; in tracking and reporting annual canned subassembly and pit inventories; in analyzing storage capacities and transitions; and in material recycle and recovery planning of enriched uranium (EU). This paper will document the advances made using technology and expert knowledge in developing the Y-12 NMIA, the expanded usage of the Y-12 NMIA, and the associated benefits.