Status and Value of International Standards for Nuclear Criticality Safety

Conference · Mon Sep 19 00:00:00 EDT 2011

OSTI ID:1026739

Hopper, Calvin Mitchell ^[1]

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1. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

This presentation provides an update to the author's standards report provided at the ICNC-2007 meeting. It includes a discussion about the difference between, and the value of participating in, the development of international 'consensus' standards as opposed to nonconsensus standards. Standards are developed for a myriad of reasons. Generally, standards represent an agreed upon, repeatable way of doing something as defined by an individual or group of people. They come in various types. Examples include personal, family, business, industrial, commercial, and regulatory such as military, community, state, federal, and international standards. Typically, national and international 'consensus' standards are developed by individuals and organizations of diverse backgrounds representing the subject matter users and developers of a service or product and other interested parties or organizations. Within the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Technical Committee 85 (TC85) on nuclear energy, Subcommittee 5 (SC5) on nuclear fuel technology, there is a Working Group 8 (WG8) on standardization of calculations, procedures, and practices related to criticality safety. WG8 has developed, and is developing, ISO standards within the category of nuclear criticality safety of fissionable materials outside of reactors (i.e., nonreactor fissionable material nuclear fuel cycle facilities). Since the presentation of the ICNC-2007 report, WG8 has issued three new finalized international standards and is developing two more new standards. Nearly all elements of the published WG8 ISO standards have been incorporated into IAEA nonconsensus guides and standards. The progression of consensus standards development among international partners in a collegial environment establishes a synergy of different concepts that broadens the perspectives of the members. This breadth of perspectives benefits the working group members in their considerations of consensus standards developments in their own countries. A testament to the value of the international standards efforts is that nearly all elements of the published WG8 ISO standards have been incorporated into IAEA nonconsensus guides and standards and are mainly consistent with international ISO member domestic standards.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1026739
• Resource Relation: Conference: 9. International Conference on Nuclear Criticality Safety (ICNC 2011), Edinburgh (United Kingdom), 19-22 Sep 2011
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION
CRITICALITY
FISSIONABLE MATERIALS
IAEA
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEAR ENERGY
NUCLEAR FUELS
SAFETY
SAFETY STANDARDS
STANDARDIZATION
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
International Consensus Standards
Nonconsensus Standards
Update
Description
Discussion