Government-Owned Nuclear Material at Non-Departmental Sites Peter Dessaules

Background  Since the 1950’s, the DOE and its predecessor agencies have provided nuclear materials to academic institutions, commercial facilities and other government agencies.  As the material owner, DOE is responsible for the control, accounting, and final disposition of these materials.  Previous audits by oversight bodies indicated that many of these inventories were highly erroneous. 2

Background  In 2009, NMMSS was tasked to reconcile annually the inventories of all Department-owned nuclear material provided to academic institutions, commercial facilities and other government agencies.  Reconciliation occurred in conjunction with NRC rulemaking which requires licensees to reconcile annually.  Reconciliation included confirming whether these materials were still needed or could be returned to DOE. 3

Results of the 2010 Reconciliation  Of the 399 NRC or Agreement State licensed facilities that were required to reconcile in 2009, about 25% (107 facilities) possessed at least some government- owned nuclear materials.  Materials were located in 35 States and the District of Columbia.  The types of facilities varied greatly. For ease the 107 facilities were grouped into 7 general categories. 4

Types of Facilities that Possess Government–Owned Materials Facility TypeTotal Manufacturing8 Laboratory10 Medical5 Non-Power Reactor38 Storage4 University33 Waste Processing9 Total107 5

Government-Owned Special Nuclear Materials MaterialQuantityUnits Enriched Uranium155.0MT Plutonium Kg Uranium Kg Plutonium Kg 6

Government-Owned Source Materials MaterialQuantityUnits Depleted Uranium27.8MT Normal Uranium68.7MT Thorium13.9MT 7

Government-Owned Other Materials MaterialQuantityUnits Americum-24180Gm Curium64Gm Californium-252<0.1Gm Enriched lithium3Kg Neptunium-23735Gm Deuterium10.5MT Tritium2Gm 8

Material in Long Term Storage or Held for Disposition  Much of the government-owned nuclear material is located at NRC licensed facilities engaged in either: Long term storage of materials for which there is no defined disposition path (i.e., spent nuclear fuel) or Actively consolidating and repackaging material for permanent disposition at a low level radioactive waste disposal site. 9

Special Nuclear Material in Long Term Storage or Held for Disposition Material% Enriched Uranium53 Plutonium Uranium Plutonium

Source Materials in Long Term Storage or Held for Disposition Material% Depleted Uranium92 Normal Uranium12 Thorium100 11

Other Materials in Long Term Storage or Held for Disposition Material% Americum Curium100 Neptunium Deuterium2 12

Materials Identified for Return to DOE  During the 2009 annual reconciliation process, seven facilities identified nuclear materials for which there is no longer a continuing programmatic need.  Facilities were either actively working directly with a DOE program office for return of the unneeded material or had requested that NMMSS provide contact information for return of this unwanted material. 13

Materials Identified for Return to DOE Composition Enriched Uranium (Kg) Plutonium- 239 (Gm) Normal Uranium (MT) Neutron source <0.119 Critical assembly rod 1.8 Laboratory materials <0.1 Two sealed sources 48 Al rods & pellets Irradiated reactor fuel 24.4 Unirrad. Triga Fuel

Summary  The annual NMMSS reconciliation is a tool used to: Enhance the oversight and management of nuclear materials provided to domestic licensees; and Ensure that unwanted or unused materials held by non-Departmental sites are either disposed of as waste or, if possible, reutilized in support of Departmental missions. 15