PRELIMINARY PLANS TO MOVE THE SPECIAL NUCLEAR MATERIAL SUPPORTING CATEGORY I AND II MISSIONS FROM TA-18 TO THE DEVICE ASSEMBLY FACILITY

In December 2002, the National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) issued a Record of Decision announcing its intent to relocate safeguards Category I and II missions and associated special nuclear materials (SNM) from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Technical Area 18 (TA-18) to the Device Assembly Facility (DAF) at the Nevada Test Site (NTS). The Cat I and II missions support nuclear criticality safety, nuclear emergency response, nuclear nonproliferation, and homeland security. TA-18 is the sole remaining facility in the United States with the capability to perform general-purpose nuclear materials handling experiments and training. Hands-on and remote control experiments, measurements, and training with special materials and devices are conducted. The conceptual design for modifying the DAF to house these Cat I and II missions includes plans for packaging and transporting the SNM inventory associated with the missions. This paper discusses these preliminary packaging and transporting plans, including how they fit into the plans for transitioning the relevant TA-18 missions to DAF while ensuring that mission, cost, and schedule requirements are met.