ENHANCING THE ROLE OF MC&A THROUGH PERFORMANCE CRITERIA

Nuclear material safeguards combines physical protection and material control and accounting (MC&A). Integration of these measures to optimize protection requires defining the role of each in the context of the potential threats. The NRC amended 10 CFR Parts 70 and 74 to reform the MC&A regulations. The Reform Amendments specify insider threats to protect against and the general goals for detection, response and assurance. The Reform Amendments use the graded safeguards concept and are performance oriented. They allow a facility flexibility in determining how to meet the goals. An element of the Reform Amendments is the use of process monitoring data to account for nuclear materials in-process. This paper reviews the evolution of the Reform Amendments and identifies some of the decisions to implement performance criteria.