3.7 PRODUCTION OF NUCLEAR ENERGY
A. CIVILIAN POWER, RESEARCH, AND TEST REACTORS
All information concerning design, construction, or operation of civilian power, research, and test fission (or magnetic fusion) reactors is unclassified. However, experimental work carried out with these reactors may be classified if it is associated with classified programs. Detailed information about the use of such reactors to produce SNM or tritium may be classified. In addition, classified information taken from classified programs and applied to civilian reactor programs still retains its classification in the classified program and the association is classified (e.g., design features of naval reactors).
B. MILITARY NUCLEAR POWER AND PROPULSION SYSTEMS
For nuclear power and propulsion systems, significant information concerning military activities (including naval nuclear propulsion) may be classified. Included in this category is information concerning (1) breakthroughs; (2) military capabilities or uses; (3) the adaptation of nuclear power and propulsion systems for other classified uses; and (4) the hardening of these military systems against nuclear weapon effects.
1a. Unclassified. Reactor physics.
1b. Classified. The adaptation to classified uses of information concerning the design, development, construction, test, or operation of military power or propulsion systems or their components.
2a. Unclassified. Information concerning design, construction, test, or operation of military power (non-navy) or non-naval propulsion reactors or their components. (But see topics 1b-4b.)
2b. Classified. Significant information concerning military capabilities or uses of space nuclear power or propulsion systems and their components.
3b. Classified. For naval nuclear propulsion, details of reactor design, construction, and operation or the ship's operating characteristics.
4b. Classified. Breakthroughs in technology of military significance enabling increases in performance or capability.
5b. Classified. Reactor calculations and measurements specific to classified reactors revealing classified features or design.
6a. Unclassified. Information concerning the design, construction, test, or operation of: (1) direct or indirect cycle reactors or their components developed in the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Program; (2) reactors or their components developed in the Army Nuclear Power Program; or (3) the Medium Power Reactor Experiment. (But see topics 1b-6b.)
6b. Classified. Classified information developed in other programs applied to the Army Nuclear Power Program or other unclassified programs must be maintained as classified in the original program and the connection is classified.
7a. Unclassified. Information concerning the design, construction, test, or operation of space rocket propulsion or nuclear ramjet reactor systems or their components (But see topic 2b.).
8a. Unclassified. Information concerning the design, construction, test, or operation of space nuclear electric power or electric propulsion systems (e.g., multikilowatt or multi-megawatt systems) or their components. (But see topics 1b-4b and 6b.)
8b. Classified. Significant advances in thermoelectric converter technology that would have military applications.
9a. Unclassified. The fact of interest in and research involving directed nuclear energy systems (DNES).
9b. Classified. Details of directed nuclear energy systems (DNES) designs, capabilities, survivability, and military missions. Also, any information that would contribute to a feasibility assessment of DNES weapons or assist others in the development of DNES weapons.
3.8 ENVIRONMENT, SAFETY, AND HEALTH
1a. Unclassified. All information concerning environment, safety, and health effects of Department of Energy programs.
2b. Classified. Nothing.
2a. Unclassified. Biological effects of radiation
3a. Unclassified. Research and development concerning medical, biological, health and safety, and environmental studies.
3.9 NUCLEAR PROGRAMMATIC INFORMATION
Programmatic information, although usually non-technical, may be of importance to the common defense and security. For example, supporting documentation for the DOE Defense Programs budget contains significant programmatic information. Certain of this information concerning the plans, capabilities, problems, scope, or direction of classified programs critical to our national interest is classified. Other programmatic information is generally not classified. For example, Department of Energy schedules of charges for nuclear materials: heavy water, uranium (normal, depleted or enriched in U-235), radioactive or stable isotopes, etc., are published in the Federal Register.
APPENDICES
Appendix 1. GLOSSARY
A
Agreement for Cooperation - Any agreement with another nation or regional defense organization authorized under sec. 123 of the AEA.
Alpha - The fractional neutron multiplication rate in a fissioning system, measured in generations per unit time.
Arming - Preparing a nuclear weapon so that a fuzing signal will operate the firing system; includes operation or reversal of safing items.
Atomic Energy Act (AEA) - The Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended.
Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) - A five-member commission and supporting organization established by the AEA of 1946 to manage the U.S. civil and military nuclear energy programs. Succeeded by the Energy Research and Development Agency (ERDA) and the separate Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)) in 1974 and then by the current Department of Energy (DOE) in 1977.
B
Blackbody - An idealized body that absorbs all electromagnetic energy falling upon it. At constant temperature it emits electromagnetic radiation with a distribution or spectrum that is described by its temperature.
Boosting - Enhancement of a fission reaction by thermonuclear neutrons.
"Born Classified" - The term used to describe the fact that Restricted Data information as defined by the AEA is classified from its origin.
C
Classification - The determination by an authorized official that information requires protection under the provisions of an Executive order (for NSI) or that a document or material contains classified information for NSI, RD, or FRD.
Classification Category - One of the three kinds of classified information (i.e., RD, FRD, or NSI).
Classification Guide - A document containing explicit classification guidance.
Classification Level - Terms which indicate the degree of sensitivity of classified information; e.g., Top Secret, Secret, or Confidential.
Classification Officer - An official who administers the classification programs of a DOE Field Element or contractor and oversees or monitors the classification programs of contractors under its jurisdiction.
Clearance - See "Security Clearance".
Commission - The former Atomic Energy Commission. As used in the AEA, now generally refers to the Secretary of Energy or to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
Computer Code - Frequently a synonym for a computer program; also part of a program.
Confidential (C) - Currently the lowest classification level; applied to information whose unauthorized disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause damage to national security.
Countermeasures - Actions taken to defeat a threat to degrade performance of a nuclear weapon or actions to defend against such measures.
Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information (CNWDI) - A Department of Defense (DOD) category of weapon data designating Top Secret or Secret Restricted Data revealing the theory of operation or design of the components of a thermonuclear or IA fission bomb, warhead, demolition munition, or test device. Specifically excluded from designation as CNWDI is information concerning:
- Arming, fuzing, and firing systems.
- Limited life components.
- Total contained quantities of fissionable, fusionable, and high explosive materials by type.
- Components which military personnel set, maintain, operate, test, or replace.
D
Declassification - A determination by appropriate authority in accordance with approved classification policy that information is no longer classified or that a document or other material no longer contains classified information.
Detonator - In these guidelines, an electro-explosive device designed to initiate a detonation in response to an applied electric current.
E
Effects - All phenomena resulting from the energy outputs of a nuclear explosion.
Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) - A strong pulse of electromagnetic radiation (EMR), with a fast rise time of about 10{sup -8} second, resulting from a nuclear explosion.
Equation of State (EOS) - The relationship between the thermodynamic properties of a material, e.g., pressure, density, and internal energy.
Executive Order (EO) - Formal Presidential order mandating activities of the Executive Branch. As used here, Executive orders concern the identification and protection of classified national security information, such as the current Executive Order 12356.
Export Controlled Information (ECI) - Unclassified Government information whose export is controlled due to its significant value for military purposes, including proliferation of nuclear weapons. Such information, if developed in the private sector, would require a license for export.
F
Fireball - A luminous sphere of hot gases formed by the sudden extreme heating of air by radiation from a nuclear explosion.
Firing - Provision, normally by a firing set, of the proper electrical energy to fire a nuclear assembly's detonator system.
Fissile Fuel or Material - A heavy isotope capable of undergoing fission by neutrons of any energy; e.g., isotopes such as U-233, U-235 and Pu-239.
Fissionable Fuel or Material - A heavy isotope capable of undergoing fission by some process; in a weapon context, materials that have a fission threshold above about 1 MeV for neutrons.
Formerly Restricted Data - Classified information jointly determined by DOE and DOD to be related primarily to the military utilization of atomic weapons and removed by DOE from the Restricted Data category pursuant to section 142d. of the Atomic Energy Act. FRD is protected as NSI except for the purpose of foreign dissemination, where it is treated as RD.
Fuel-Grade Plutonium - Plutonium intended for use as fuel in reactors; e.g., as mixed plutonium - uranium oxides (MOX). Typically contains 7-19% Pu-240. In the past, fuel-grade plutonium has been included in the definition of reactor-grade plutonium.
Fuzing - Generating a signal that, in an armed nuclear weapon, will operate the firing system.
Fusion Fuel - Materials such as DT or Li-6D that will undergo a nuclear fusion reaction with a net energy release.
G
Gun-Assembled Weapon - One in which subcritical nuclear components are rapidly assembled by a propellant to form an uncompressed supercritical mass.
H
Hardening - Measures taken in the design and fabrication of a weapon or its parts to reduce their vulnerability.
High Altitude Phenomenology - Effects of nuclear explosions that occur above 250,000 feet.
Hydrodynamics - The behavior of continuously deformable media, including the compressibility of material by shock waves.
I
Implosion-Assembled Weapon - One in which a subcritical mass of fissile material is rapidly assembled and compressed to supercriticality by an HE implosion.
Implosion Detonation System - A system that commences with circuits carrying electrical energy from the firing set and terminates with the units that detonate the main HE charge.
Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) - An organization within the General Services Administration responsible for implementing and monitoring the information security program prescribed in E.O. 12356. The National Security Council provides overall policy direction for this program.
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