Current Status of the DOE/NNSA Nuclear Criticality Safety Program Hands-On Criticality Safety Training Courses
In 2011, the U.S. Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP) developed and piloted a two-week Nuclear Criticality Safety (NCS) Practitioner course to support the training and qualification of new NCS staff. The course was developed in accordance with the American National Standard Institute/American Nuclear Society (ANSI/ANS) standard for NCS training and qualifications (ANSI/ANS-8.26-2007). In 2013, an NCS Manager’s course was developed for process supervisors, managers, regulators, and other professionals with NCS-related responsibilities. In 2017, an additional course was proposed for Criticality Safety Officers (CSOs). The baseline content for a CSO course is being defined by the NCSP Criticality Safety Support Group prior to training materials being developed. A pilot CSO course is planned for 2020. These courses consist of the following training components: classroom education, facility training, and hands-on subcritical and critical experiments training. The 2-week Practitioner and 1-week manager courses are currently offered twice per year. The CSO course will be likely be offered once per year. The two-week Practitioner course offers a week of classroom training, with practical workshops and exercises focused on teaching students how to perform an NCS evaluation. The second week of training involves hands-on critical and subcritical experiments and measurements. The first week is offered in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the DOE Nevada Field Office or the National Atomic Testing Museum. Depending on the student’s clearance level, the second week is offered at Sandia National Laboratory (SNL) (uncleared and L-cleared students) or at the National Criticality Experiments Research Center (NCERC) (Q-cleared students). The one-week Manager’s course is offered at SNL or NCERC, depending on clearance or interest, and includes classroom and hands-on critical and subcritical experiments and measurements. The CSO course will likely be shorter than the manager courses, 3 days perhaps, and the lectures and hands-on content will graded for those supporting operations and criticality safety staff within a site NCS program. This paper provides an overview and status report for the DOE/NNSA NCSP training courses in NCS and to provide information about future course offerings.
- 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:
- AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 1564197
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: International Conference on Nuclear Criticality Safety (ICNC 2019), Paris (France), 15-20 Sep 2019
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Current Status of the DOE/NNSA Nuclear Criticality Safety Program Hands-On Criticality Safety Training
Current status of the DOE/NNSA nuclear criticality safety program hands-on criticality safety training courses