Technical Criteria for Terminating or Reducing Domestic Safeguards on Low-Grade Special Nuclear Material

A graded table for terminating or reducing domestic safeguards has been developed for use by programs and facilities within the Department of Energy in decisions regarding the need for or levels of protection of low-grade nuclear materials.’ Contained in this table are technical criteria which can allow for complete removal of safeguards over many special nuclear material forms and concentrations of typical low-grade materials either currently located at generating or processing sites and materials which may arise from processing operations related to stabilization and disposition activities. In addition, these criteria include higher concentration levels which may warrant maintaining some level of (albeit reduced) security on low-grade materials while allowing reductions in materials control and accountability requirements. These reductions can range from complete removal of these “materials from materials control and accountability requirements such as measurements, physical inventories and recordkeeping, to deferring these measurements and physical inventories until a time that either the material is removed from the site or resubmitted for processing.