Safeguards Considerations for Quantifying Waste Materials Generated from Risk Reduction Activitiesat the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site

The current mission of Rocky Flats is to “Clean It Up, Make It Safe, Close It Down.” Rocky Flats is also committed to completing its mission in as short a time frame as possible. To accomplish that mission, a number of new safeguards initiatives are being developed for handling materials removed from former processing areas. An enormous quantity of material and equipment must be removed from a single processing facility before the structure can be torn down. The traditional approach to material control and accountability (MC&A) requirements for these materials would be extremely costly and time consuming. An approach to quantifying materials removed during risk reduction or closure activities has been developed both to meet MC&A requirements and to support the closure mission of the Site by minimizing costs and schedules. A decision logic-tree was developed to determine whether the items and materials require a traditional accountability measurement, a holdup measurement, or a gamma scan to detect the presence of special nuclear material (SNM). The decision tree attempts to include all variables which may be encountered during the closure process. It also attempts to clarify MC&A requirements for planning and operational organizations.