AN ACCOUNTABILITY AND SAFEGUARDS SYSTEM FOR THE REACTOR OPERATOR

It is a pleasure for me to have an opportunity to address you tVs morning. A review of the attendance list of last year's meeting at Las Vegas shows that there were only a few representatives from the electric utility industry present at the meeting. Being a utility employee, my first reaction to this fact is that Las Vegas must be off limits to electric utility employees. However, upon further contemplation it is obvious that there are several good reasons why electric power companies have not exhibited wholesale interest in safeguards and accountability for special nuclear materials. Currently, there are only a limited number of nuclear power reactors in commercial operation, and most electric utilities have not yet drawn down their inventories of special nuclear materials. Also, of tile reactors in commercial operation, only a few have experience in the control of nuclear fuel inventories in all phases of the nuclear fuel cycle and are cognizant of the numerous factors involved in the control of special nuclear material. Secondly, there are those within the nuclear industry who believe that there are no accountability or safeguards problems for the reactor operator. The basis for this line of thinking is that the nuclear fuel used in today's water reactors is initially low enriched uranium which is of little value as weapons material. Additionally, the fuel is enclosed in assemblies which are located inside a reactor vessel during most of their lives at the nuclear power plant, and upon their discharge from the reactor, when plutonium has been produced, the assemblies are radioactive. This combination of factors eliminates the safeguards problem of the reactor operator. In my opinion, this reasoning does not consider the serious responsibilities which utility managers have in the receiving, handling, shipping,recording and securing of nuclear fuel.