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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Holdup-related issues in safeguarding of nuclear materials

Conference ·
OSTI ID:5324317
Residual inventories of special nuclear materials (SNM) remaining in processing facilities (holdup) are recognized as an insidious problem for both safety and safeguards. This paper identifies some of the issues that are of concern to the safeguards community at-large that are related to holdup of SNM in large-scale process equipment. These issues range from basic technologies of SNM production to changing regulatory requirements to meet the needs of safeguarding nuclear materials. Although there are no magic formulas to resolve these issues, there are several initiatives that could be taken in areas of facility design, plant operation, personnel training, SNM monitoring, and regulatory guidelines to minimize the problems of holdup and thereby improve both safety and safeguards at nuclear material processing plants. 8 refs.
Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-36
OSTI ID:
5324317
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-88-424; CONF-880352-2; ON: DE88006469
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English