The Importance of Understanding Process Holdup A Department of Energy (DOE) View

Residual material in processing equipment is today and will in the future continue to be one of the major problems in controlling and accounting for nuclear material. Existing facilities were designed for product quantity, quality, and safety; not for minimization and quantification of residual material in process. With the development of measurement systems, and with enhanced material control and accounting practices and procedures, inventory differences have been emphasized. The improvement in processing input and output measurements has highlighted theproblems of quantifying residual process material. The primary purpose for quantifying material held up in process is to determine the inventory difference and its related uncertainties or statistical variances. This quantification and its associated problems must be addressed if we are to prevent, deter, and detect theft and/or diversion of nuclear materials. INTRODUCTION