AEC EXPERIENCE WITH ON SITE CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION OF NUCLEAR FUEL

The purpose of this paper is to describe the experience that the Atomic Energy Commission's Chicago Operations Office has had with a material control program during the course of a major plutonium fabrication contract. The focal point of this program was an on-site representative at the major fab- ricator's plant. The discussion emphasizes the material management responsi- bility of the AEC office (Chicago Operations Office) which had a contract that provided for the supply of plutonium metal for use in a fabrication contract between Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC). In other words, Chicago Operations Office (CH) had a \"plutonium supply contract,\" and ANL had a \"plutonium fabrication contract\" with NUMEC. These contracts were for the plutonium fuel for the Zero Power Plutonium Reactor (ZPPR). This project is unique because of the very large volume of plutonium involved. Over 4,000 kilograms were fabricated in all phases of this project. Nearly 3,000 kilograms were processed at the major fabricator (NUMEC). This latter amount is without a doubt the largest quantity of plutonium ever fabricated outside an AEC facility. For clarity, we will first describe the entire ZPPR cycle. We will emphasize those parts of the cycle where we had a principal responsibility, and most of all, we will highlight the role of the on site representative played throughout the entire cycle. Included in this cycle are: Blending and ingoting of plutonium metal at Richland. Shipping of material to NUMEC. Receipt, fabrication, and scrap recovery at NUMEC. Shipping of fabricated fuel plates to ANL.