SNM Measurement Uncertainties: Potential Impacts on Materials Disposition*

A discussion of nuclear material measurement uncertainties and impacts to the Materials Disposition (MD) Program is presented. Many of the options under consideration by the disposition program present new measurement challenges for nondestructive assay. Some of these challenges include significant material processing throughputs, a variety of material forms, unique waste streams, and difficult-to-measure matrices. There are also some questions regarding the ability to achieve International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) vefilcation requirements and to achieve measurement uncertainties that are small enough to meet the IAEA loss detection goals. We present a detailed formalism for determining the measurement error for nondestructive assay systems applied to the MD Program, which is an essential component for planning the safeguards and security of these systems.