Future Opportunities And Challenges For Minimizing Weapons-usable Nuclear Material

The U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration’s (DOE/NNSA) Office of Material Management and Minimization (M3) aims to achieve permanent threat reduction by minimizing and when possible, eliminating, the use of weapons-usable nuclear materials in civilian applications worldwide. By eliminating excess inventories of highly enriched uranium (HEU) and plutonium, M3 reduces the likelihood that terrorists or bad actors could acquire sufficient material to build a nuclear weapon or improvised nuclear device. M3 accomplishes this mission in three ways: converting research reactors and radioisotope production facilities from the use of HEU to low enriched uranium (LEU); removing or downblending nuclear material that is no longer needed; and disposing of excess nuclear material in the United States. As M3 continues to implement its Convert, Remove, and Dispose missions, it is also looking ahead to new frontiers in material minimization. This session will provide a detailed overview of the M3 mission and accomplishments to date, followed by an interactive panel discussion with senior M3 personnel discussing the ways in which each program is leveraging its expertise to develop and deploy new concepts and technical capabilities to advance its nuclear nonproliferation mission.