Year
2024
Abstract
| The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Nuclear Forensics has established the National Nuclear Materials Archive to collect, characterize, and preserve nuclear material samples to support assessment of whether materials found outside of regulatory control originate from the Department of Energy. The NNMA’s function is to support attribution of a nuclear attack, predetonation events, and materials discovered outside of regulatory control. Furthermore, the National Nuclear Materials Archive will preserve physical specimens that can be traced to a particular time and production site in the nuclear fuel cycle, and the identification and selection process of specimens is guided by the Office of Nuclear Forensics strategy documents. Subject matter experts in nuclear material inventories and production histories evaluate and document material to meet archive requirements, and documentation efforts for the archive’s consideration involve compiling a nuclear material’s known provenance and characteristics that prove its value for nuclear forensics. This paper describes the approach taken by Oak Ridge National Laboratory to identify production characteristics and timelines that indicate if an item is a product of a nuclear material processing step of interest and to sample, analyze, and preserve the items. |