Meeting Timeliness Requirements in Reprocessing Plants

Meeting the Agency's timeliness requirements in a reprocessing plant presents a challenge, particularly when the plant is in operation. The verification of the spent fuel pond inventory and the Pu product storage is relatively simple, employing established safeguards procedures for static inventories. However, the flow sections of a reprocessing plant require the development and management approval of facility-specific methods. These methods employ head-end batchfollow-up in conjunction with density correlations and the application of near real time accountancy (NRTA). These methods have been in use since late 1990. Results attained so far are presented, with areas for improvement highlighted.