Speaker
Description
National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office of Radiological Security (ORS) enhances global security by preventing IAEA Category 1 and 2 quantities of radioactive material from being used in acts of terrorism. One strategy ORS employs to achieve this mission is the recovery of disused sealed radioactive sources (DSRS) that pose a potential risk to public health, safety, and national security. Under ORS’s direction, the Off-Site Source Recovery Program (OSRP), consisting of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and Idaho National Laboratory (INL), share the responsibility for removing irradiators containing Category 1 or 2 quantities of cesium-137 or cobalt-60.
Category 1 and 2 DSRS are most at risk while in transport, where physical protection systems are more difficult to develop and implement relative to fixed facilities, such as hospitals. Addressing this gap is what LANL and INL have been focusing on by direction of ORS. Several factors are attributed to this effort including regulatory changes in the United States.
In 2004, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) revised their regulations in 10 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 71 to harmonize with the IAEA’s 1996 edition of “Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material” (IAEA Safety Standards Series No. TS-R-1). In doing so, a number of Type B packagings used by the OSRP and industry for shipments of Type B quantity were phased out of use on October 1st, 2008. In anticipation of this change and subsequent lack of certified Type B packaging for compliant shipments, ORS directed LANL OSRP to design, test, certify, and fabricate new Type B package models, thus ensuring that source recovery operations weren’t interrupted.
This new design effort allowed ORS and OSRP to approach package design with deliberate consideration of safety and security factors. The safety of packages is a well-established metric in which packages must meet criteria defined by the IAEA and the competent authority under which the package is evaluated and certified. The security-by-design of packages is an area where ORS and OSRP determined additional measures could be taken. OSRP worked with the package design agency and packaging engineers to ensure a security mindset during the design of the packages. This allowed OSRP to ensure better security of the packages through inherent design features without sacrificing safety or operational efficiency.
Through these efforts, ORS OSRP movements of IAEA category 1 and 2 DSRS are safer and more secure. OSRP project managers and shippers are able to track conveyances from the end user to DOE/NNSA contracted facilities, and in the event of a security incident can immediately initiate a response from local law enforcement agencies. These efforts make OSRP transportation of high consequence material safer for the general public and increase national security through removal of DSRS.
