MATERIALS MANAGEMENT - A PROGRAM IN REVIEW

It is indeed a pleasure to again appear before this group and discusstheAEC'snuclearmaterialsmanagementprogram. Inmyfirst presentation before this group, I stressed the reasons for establishing a new organizational component within the AEC to manage several billion dollars worth of nuclear materials. Last June, at the 14th Annual Meeting of INMM in San Diego, I provided details on the organizational structure and discussed the management systems developed to effectively plan and control this large resource, which I noted was valued at over 2 billion dollars higher than inventories held by General Motors. Another more direct way to indicate the need for a coordinated AEC effort is to relate the material resources to the total assets of the Atomic Energy Commission as reported in the last financial report published by the Commission. Figure 1 reveals that the total assets of the AEC add up to ^ $14.5 billion. The major component parts include cash reserves, plant/equipment, and nuclear materials. The largest asset, nuclear materials, has a value of $5.7 billion and accounts for almost half of all the AEC's assets. It is my intention today to discuss some of the factors which influence our materials planning activities, and provide some comments ontheforceswhich\"shape\"and\"reshape\"ourprogram. Inaddition,I also plan to reflect back on the established materials management program and review some of the achievements noted thus far.