SUMMARY REPORT ON THE INSTITUTE OF NUCLEAR MATERIALS MANAGEMENT WORKSHOP ON LONG-TERM SPECIAL NUCLEAR MATERIAL STORAGE*

The Institute of Nuclear Materials Management (INMM) sponsored the second workshop on Long-Term Special Nuclear Material (SNM) Storage on May 3-5, 1994, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The workshop participants numbered approximately 70 persons representing over 30 organizations comprised of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) offices, other government agencies, and contractor organizations. The focus of the workshop was to determine means to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of long-term storage through safety, safeguards, and operational interactions. Discussions centered around policy, materials preparation, and storage requirements. The paper discusses the issues identified by the workshop participants that need to be resolved for implementing long-term storage of nuclear materials. The major issues include (1) the inconsistency of regulations and policy impacting the storage mission both within the DOE and between DOE and other cognizant government agencies (e.g., the Environmental Protection Agency); (2) the lack of policy guidance, as well as supporting technical consensus, on the types of materials that will be acceptable for storage, (3) the lack of funding support to bring existing materials to an approved stabilized form, (4) the lack of an effective standardized packaging approach, and (5) the lack of integrated cost-effective requirements for storage operations.