Measurement control administration for nuclear materials accountability

摘要

In 1986 a measurement control program was instituted at Mound to ensure that measurement performance used for nuclear material accountability was properly monitored and documented. The organization and management of various aspects of the program are discussed. Accurate measurements are the basis of nuclear material accountability. The validity of the accountability values depends on the measurement results that are used to determine inventories, receipts, and shipments. With this measurement information, material balances are calculated to determine losses and gains of materials during a specific time period. Calculation of Inventory Differences (ID) are based on chemical or physical measurements of many items. The validity of each term is dependent on the component measurements. Thus, in Figure 1, the measured element weight of 17 g is dependent on the performance of the particular measurement system that was used. In this case, the measurement is performed using a passive gamma ray method with a calibration curve determined by measuring representative standards containing a range of special nuclear materials (Figure 2). One objective of a measurement control program is to monitor and verify the validity of the calibration curve (Figure 3). In 1986 Mound's Nuclear Materials Accountability (NMA) group instituted a formal measurement control program to ensure the validity of the numbers that comprise this equation and provide a measure of how well bulk materials can be controlled. Most measurements used for accountability are production measurements with their own quality assurance programs. In many cases a measurement control system is planned and maintained by the developers and operators of the particular measurement system with oversight by the management responsible for the results. 4 refs., 7 figs.