Report on Radio Frequency Identification 2010 Category I Vault Testing Program

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) (Environmental Management [EM], Office of Packaging and Transportation [EM-45]) Packaging and Certification Program (DOE PCP) has developed a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tracking and monitoring system, called ARG-US, for the management of nuclear materials packages during transportation and storage. The performance of the ARG-US RFID equipment and system has been fully tested in two demonstration projects in April 20081 and August 2009. Planning has also been underway for field testing and applications of the ARG-US RFID systems at selected DOE sites and national laboratories, including the Savannah River Site (SRS), the Nevada Test Site (NTS), Argonne, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, and Sandia National Laboratories. With the strong support of DOE-SR and DOE PCP, a field testing program has been authorized to be performed in Savannah River Site’s K-Area Material Storage (KAMS) Facility, an active Category I Plutonium Storage Facility, in 2010. This paper will report field testing progress of the ARG-US RFID equipment in KAMS, the operability and reliability trend results associated with the applications of the system, and discuss the potential benefits in enhancing safety, security and materials accountability.