Preparation of Material Specific Management Plans for Heavy Isotopes

The US Department of Energy (DOE) possesses significant quantities of rare, irreplaceable actinide isotopes that can be used for future research and development (R&D) missions and in the production of commercial isotopes. The production of these rare actinides has been possible, in most cases, only by the massive investment of time, money, and special facilities associated with US government–sponsored programs. Many of these materials are no longer needed for their originally intended purposes; however, the availability and uniqueness of these materials have spawned a large number of R&D efforts that have yielded both intellectual and commercial successes for DOE. Currently, many of these materials do not have a well-defined path forward either to retention for future use or disposal as waste. Additionally, until recently, no central planning activity existed for coordinating users with supplies of these special actinide isotopes. DOE issued guidance in the form of DOE Order 410.2, Management of Nuclear Materials, which authorized the formation of Lead Materials Management Organizations (LMMOs) for the oversight of specific sets of nuclear materials. The LMMO serves a crosscutting function, both providing input to DOE regarding management of select heavy isotopes within the department and assisting in the development of long-term plans for future use and/or disposition. As the LMMO for Heavy Isotopes, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) performs these functions for americium-241, americium-243, californium (all isotopes), curium (all isotopes), neptunium-237, plutonium-240, plutonium-242, plutonium 244, uranium-233, and uranium-234. ORNL maintains an inventory database, identifies options for reuse, identifies facility needs, and provides analysis to support “keep-or-dispose” decisions for these materials. This paper describes Heavy Isotope LMMO efforts to prepare Material Specific Management Plans (MSMPs) for each of these isotopes. The status of MSMP preparation, recommendations from completed plans, lessons learned, and plans for future MSMPs will be discussed.