National Nuclear Materials Archive (NNMA) - Specimen Selection and Sampling at the Y-12 National Security Complex

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Y-12 National Security Complex (Y‐12) is a designated National Nuclear Materials Archive (NNMA) site. In order to support the NNMA program, Y-12 is contributing to the fulfillment of specimen needs by implementing a contemplative and anticipatory specimen selection and sampling process for items of nuclear forensic interest. Y‐12’s historical and continued contributions to the DOE/NNSA nuclear inventory have made the site a prime candidate for finding items of interest for the NNMA program with a traceable production pedigree. The NNMA specimen selection process is guided by the designated NNMA Program Manager. NNMA specimen demand is constituted by the nuclear material items that are representative of the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE)/NNSA historical and current nuclear fuel cycle. The items of interest are selected as NNMA specimens based on the program demand guidance via NNMA Blue Books. These Blue Books provide the starting point for the subsequent specimen sampling which is an intrinsic function of the NNMA. Y-12 uses various processes for determining the specific items that meet NNMA demand needs and then schedules sampling for subsequent analytical functions. Selection and sampling these items for the NNMA program is a dedicated effort that spans thousands of items located in various buildings throughout the large Y-12 complex. Selecting and sampling these specimens support various U.S. counterterrorism and counterproliferation missions by enabling comparative analyses against interdicted or other nuclear materials located outside of administrative control. Through these activities, Y-12’s expertise with U.S. nuclear production and processing operations contributes to the creation of a robust nuclear forensics capability. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12), located in Oak Ridge, TN, plays an integral part in the National Nuclear Materials Archive (NNMA) program managed by the National Nuclear COPYRIGHT NOTICE This document has been authored by Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC, under Contract DE NA 0001942 with the U.S. Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration, or a subcontractor thereof. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the document for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a nonexclusive, paid up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this document, prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public, and perform publicly and display publicly, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. Proceedings of the INMM & ESARDA Joint Virtual Annual Meeting August 23–26 & August 30–September 1, 2021 2 Security Administration (NNSA) Office of Counterterrorism and Counterproliferation—Nuclear Forensics (NA-83). The NNMA’s mission is focused on collecting, analyzing, and preserving nuclear material specimens that are representative of United States historical and current production signatures, including uranium components in the nuclear weapons program, for forensics purposes. The NNMA makes use of Y-12’s wide range of uranium materials process knowledge and expertise to ensure that the identification, selection, and storage/preservation of NNMA uranium specimens are accomplished in support of overall archive objectives. This also involves ensuring that sub-samples are shipped to various labs for forensics-quality analysis. Since 2010, Y-12 has participated in efforts to identify and preserve uranium materials onsite that meet the acceptance criteria for inclusion in the NNMA. In 2018, under renewed funding from NA-83, Y-12 re-started actively identifying Items of Interest (IOI) in inventory to nominate for analysis and inclusion in the NNMA. IOIs deemed to sufficiently warrant inclusion in the archive are nominated quarterly via the formal program process. The decision to nominate IOIs is preceded by an investigation of the process history of the specific material. This investigation is used to determine whether the material fills a NNMA “coin slot.” The coin slots are pre-determined material descriptions for which the NNMA preferentially desires to retain archive samples as part of the overall program objective. Coin slots are defined primarily by the material, production process, and timeframe in which the material was produced. Starting in August 2020 and quarterly through May 2021, Y-12 has nominated a total of 108 items for the NNMA in approximately 40 separate nomination packages. The items nominated include materials that represent final products such as weapon system parts, fabricated fuel assemblies, and intermediate process materials. The effort to provide samples of accepted NNMA materials for high-fidelity laboratory analysis began in 2019 when Y-12 began creating sub-samples from existing specimens in the NNMA. In March 2021, Y-12 began collecting new archive specimens and sub-samples for laboratory analysis from items that were more recently nominated and accepted into the NNMA. A total of 38 additional specimens/sub-samples will have been created by Y-12 by the end of FY 2021. The process for determining which NNMA items are selected for sampling during a given period is dependent on ease of access/availability, similarity to other potential items, and the requirements of the analytical laboratories. Y-12 works toward batching as many items together for sampling in order to make the process as efficient as possible. Y-12 support of the NNMA is anticipated to continue over the next several years. However, the identification of new items for nomination to the NNMA is anticipated to slow over the next year, and the focus will shift to further collecting and sampling of currently accepted specimens, shipping of sub-samples to analytical laboratories, and preservation efforts for ensuring that the forensics value of retained NNMA specimens is guaranteed. Proceedings of the INMM & ESARDA Joint Virtual Annual Meeting August 23–26 & August 30–September 1, 2021 3 BACKGROUND Since 2010, the Y-12 National Security Complex has supported efforts to identify and retain Y-12 materials of potential interest to the National Nuclear Materials Archive (NNMA). Initial work completed through approximately 2012 with funding from the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Intelligence/Counter-intelligence identified several pre-existing samples of weapon system parts and other items that were nominated and accepted into the NNMA. Following several years of transition of the NNMA from DOE to NNSA oversight, Y-12 resumed efforts to identify, evaluate, and nominate materials in FY 2018 with funding from the NNSA Office of Counterterrorism and Counterproliferation—Nuclear Forensics (NA-83). Sufficient funding required to support a full-fledged program capable of accomplishing significant scope in support of the NNMA program was received in FY 2021, and Y-12 has made steady progress towards the program’s material identification, selection, nomination, and sample collection goals. Y-12 also continues to support the forensics analysis of specimens by creating sub-samples of specimens for shipment to NNMA analytical laboratories. SPECIMEN SELECTION The initial step in the process of a material being accepted into the NNMA is the identification of an “Item of Interest” or IOI. A list of the IOIs at Y-12 is maintained so that each of these materials can be flagged in the inventory management system to prevent them from being dispositioned while being considered for NNMA nomination. Y-12 utilizes in-house materials tracking/inventory databases and other means, such as interfacing with long-time employees with knowledge of historical projects, to carry out the IOI identification step. To assist in these searches, the NNMA program has identified specific needs for certain materials and listed them in “Blue Books” for each major material of interest. These are high-level material demand lists for each of the materials identified for inclusion in the NNMA. Each of these Blue Books has more specific “Coin Slots” identified that describe in more detail the exact material desired for the NNMA, i.e., a production process of the material and, in many cases, a specified range of dates during which it was produced. Using the data from the appropriate Blue Book and related coin slots, it is possible to compare materials inventory databases against the NNMA requirements to complete searches for potential IOIs. Given the large number of uranium objects in storage at Y-12, the Uranium Blue Book coin slots are of most interest by Y-12 for searching and researching potential IOIs. Separately, the NNMA Program has identified target quantities that are requested to be obtained for each coin slot. This quantity helps determine the number of individual items that may need to be considered for potential nomination in order to meet the minimum amount requested for long-term retention as part of the NNMA. In turn, the selection of specific IOIs, and in particular the number of specific items, may also be tied into this quantity requirement for some situations. The decision to nominate an IOI for inclusion in the NNMA is preceded by an investigation of the process history of the material in question. The results of this investigation will determine if Proceedings of the INMM & ESARDA Joint Virtual Annual Meeting August 23–26 & August 30–September 1, 2021 4 the material fills a needed NNMA coin slot or not and ultimately whether it should be nominated for the archive. This information is relatively easy to obtain for certain materials such as weapon system components but can be challenging for other materials without the same level of quality control history. This process also becomes more difficult with older material, and conversely easier for new materials, due to the progressive evolution of electronic rec