THE SAFEGUARDS MEASUREMENT EVALUATION PROGRAM: A SAFEGUARDS SAMPLE EXCHANGE PROGRAM

The New Brunswick Laboratory (NBL) serves as a technical extension of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Safeguards and Security (OSS). In support of OSS, the NBL administers a safeguards interlaboratory measurement evaluation program, the Safeguards Measurements Evaluation (SME) sample exchange program. The purpose of the SME Program is to monitor, evaluate, and assess the quality and effectiveness of safeguards materials accounting destructive measurements at DOE nuclear facilities for determination of uranium elemental concentration, and determination of uranium or plutonium isotopic abundances. Plans for the future include plutonium metal for elemental concentration, and materials for nondestructive assay.