Process Monitoring in a Scrap Recovery Facility

Facilities licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that are authorized to possess more than five kilograms of strategic special nuclear material are required by regulation to implement process monitoring. The purpose of process monitoring is to detect an abrupt diversion or loss of five formula kilograms of special nuclear material (SNM) within either three or seven days of the loss, depending on the attractiveness of the material. It also provides an indication of cumulative losses that approach safeguards concerns. Process monitoring is easily implemented and performed for SNM that remains in the original solid form utilizing weight checks to monitor process losses or gains. Process monitoring in a scrap recovery facility is complex due to the nature of the material entering each process unit, the use of NDA techniques for measurement, the inaccuracies of calibrating raschig ring tanks, and process holdup in piping. This paper addresses the techniques employed and the problems encountered when process monitoring was implemented in the scrap recovery facility at Babcock & Wilcox.