The United States Department of Energy Nuclear Materials Loan Program (NMLP) Lead Materials Management Organization (LMMO)

The Atomic Energy Act (AEA), as amended, authorizes the Department of Energy (DOE) and its predecessor agencies to distribute nuclear materials to U.S. universities and other educational institutes for the purposes of research, development, and education. Materials were lent to these institutions by multiple offices in DOE in accordance with this authority. Due to organizational evolution (e.g., the elimination of origination offices) over time, responsibility for the material has become uncertain and documentation of these materials is inconsistent or unavailable. In recent years, NMID through NMMSS has received increasing inquiries from institutions in possession of DOE owned nuclear materials regarding how to return the materials to government custody. In most of these cases NMID has been unable to re-establish programmatic responsibility for these materials. To improve management of DOE loans, through the oversight and leadership of the Nuclear Materials Integration Division (NMID), the Y-12 Management and Operating contractor (Y-12 M&O) was tasked to setup a program to integrate nuclear material loans. In 2021, the Y-12 M&O contractor and the NNSA Production Office (NPO) were designated as the primary field office and contractor for standing up the Nuclear Materials Loan Program (NMLP) Lead Material Management Organization (LMMO) to manage the complex-wide inventory of loaned materials, including materials to be retained by the research and educational entities and the materials that those entities want to return to DOE. The NMLP LMMO manages loan agreements, inventory assessments, and coordination of returns of materials with Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Licensees and other recipients of DOEowned nuclear materials. The NMLP also coordinates with existing loan programs and utilize existing systems when practical to manage materials under certain loan and return programs that will remain intact. The NMLP LMMO primary interest is to ensure that government owned nuclear material located at institutions and/or organizations outside DOE/NNSA is actively sponsored by an ongoing program within the department. For materials without an active program sponsor, the NMLP LMMO shall coordinate its efforts. The NMLP LMMO actively identifies institutions and entities in possession of government owned nuclear materials through NMMSS records. It ensures continued and active stewardship of accountable nuclear materials having no current programmatic owner that are on loan to external organizations, and provides a single point of contact within DOE for institutions wishing to return previously loaned government owned nuclear materials.