§74.51. Nuclear material control and accounting for strategic special nuclear material. — Inbound Citations

(b) Each application for a license to possess special nuclear material, to possess equipment capable of enriching uranium, to operate an uranium enrichment facility, to possess and use at any one time and location special nuclear material in a quantity exceeding one effective kilogram, except for applications for use as sealed sources and for those uses involved in the operation of a nuclear reactor licensed pursuant to part 50 or part 53 of this chapter and those involved in a waste disposal operation, must contain a full description of the applicant's program for control and accounting of such special nuclear material or enrichment equipment that will be in the applicant's possession under license to show how compliance with the requirements of §§ 74.31, 74.33, 74.41, or 74.51 of this chapter, as applicable, will be accomplished.

(a) Each licensee, including nuclear reactor licensees as defined in §§ 50.21 and 50.22 of this chapter, possessing, or who had possessed in the previous reporting period, at any one time and location, special nuclear material in a quantity totaling one gram or more of contained uranium-235, uranium-233, or plutonium shall complete and submit, in computer-readable format Material Balance Reports concerning special nuclear material that the licensee has received, produced, possessed, transferred, consumed, disposed, or lost. This prescribed computer-readable report replaces the DOE/NRC form 742 which has been previously submitted in paper form. The Physical Inventory Listing Report must be submitted with each Material Balance Report. This prescribed computer-readable report replaces the DOE/NRC Form 742C which has been previously submitted in paper form. Reports must be submitted for each Reporting Identification Symbol (RIS) account including all holding accounts. Each licensee shall prepare and submit the reports described in this paragraph as specified in the instructions in NUREG/BR-0007 and NMMSS Report D-24 “Personal Computer Data Input for NRC Licensees.” Copies of these instructions may be obtained from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Division of Fuel Management, Washington, DC 20555-0001, or by e-mail to [email protected]. Each licensee subject to the requirements of § 74.51 shall compile a report as of March 31 and September 30 of each year and file it within 30 days after the end of the period covered by the report. Licensees subject to the requirements of §§ 74.19(c), 74.31(c)(5), 74.33(c)(4), or 74.43(c)(6) shall submit a report within 60 calendar days of the beginning of the physical inventory. All other licensees shall submit a report no later than March 31 of each year. The Commission may permit a licensee to submit the reports at other times for good cause. Each licensee required to report material balance, and inventory information, as detailed in this part, shall resolve any discrepancies identified during the report review and reconciliation process within 30 calendar days of notification of a discrepancy identified by NRC.

(c) Each licensee subject to the requirements of § 74.51 shall submit a completed Special Nuclear Material Physical Inventory Summary Report on NRC form 327 not later than 45 calendar days from the start of each physical inventory required by § 74.59(f). The licensee shall report the physical inventory results by plant and total facility to the Director, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

(c) Other than licensees subject to § 74.31, § 74.33, § 74.41, or § 74.51, each licensee who is authorized to possess special nuclear material, at any one time and site location, in a quantity greater than 350 grams of contained uranium-235, uranium-233, or plutonium, or any combination thereof, shall conduct a physical inventory of all special nuclear material in its possession under license at intervals not to exceed 12 months. The results of these physical inventories need not be reported to the Commission, but the licensee shall retain the records associated with each physical inventory until the Commission terminates the license that authorized the possession of special nuclear material.

(a) Licensees subject to § 74.51 shall monitor internal transfers, storage, and processing of SSNM. The process monitoring must achieve the detection capabilities described in paragraph (b) of this section for all SSNM except:

(1) SSNM that is subject to the item loss detection requirements of § 74.55;

(2) Scrap in the form of small pieces, cuttings, chips, solutions, or in other forms that result from a manufacturing process, held in containers of 30 gallons or larger, with an SSNM content of less than 0.25 grams per liter;

(3) SSNM with an estimated measurement standard deviation greater than five percent that is either input or output material associated with a unit that processes less than five formula kilograms over a consecutive three-month period; and

(4) SSNM involved in research and development operations that process less than five formula kilograms during any seven-consecutive-day period.

(a) Licensees subject to § 74.51 shall provide the detection capability described in paragraph (b) of this section for laboratory samples containing less than 0.05 formula kilograms of SSNM and any uniquely identified items of SSNM that have been quantitatively measured, the validity of that measurement independently confirmed, and that additionally have been either:

(1) Tamper-safed or placed in a vault or controlled access area that provides protection at least equivalent to tamper-safing; or

(2) Sealed such that removal of SSNM would be readily and permanently apparent (e.g., encapsulated).

(a) Licensees subject to § 74.51 shall provide the MC&A alarm resolution capabilities described in paragraphs (b) through (f) of this section.

(a) Licensees subject to § 74.51 shall provide the quality assurance and accounting capabilities described in paragraphs (b) through (h) of this section.

(b) The approved information collection requirements contained in this part appear in §§ 74.7, 74.11, 74.13, 74.15, 74.17, 74.19, 74.31, 74.33, 74.41, 74.43, 74.45, 74.51, 74.57, and 74.59.

(a) The requirements for material control and accounting for formula quantities of strategic special nuclear material (Category I) are contained in §§ 74.11, 74.13, 74.15, 74.17, 74.19, 74.51, 74.53, 74.55, 74.57, 74.59, 74.81, and 74.82 of this chapter.

(b) To achieve the general performance objectives specified in § 74.51(a), the MC&A system must provide the capabilities described in §§ 74.53, 74.55, 74.57 and 74.59 and must incorporate checks and balances that are sufficient to detect falsification of data and reports that could conceal diversion by:

(1) An individual, including an employee in any position; or

(2) Collusion between an individual with MC&A responsibilities and another individual who has responsibility or control within both the physical protection and the MC&A systems.

(i) The program for control and accounting of uranium source material at an uranium enrichment facility and special nuclear material at all applicable facilities as implemented pursuant to § 70.22(b), or § 74.31(b), § 74.33(b), § 74.41(b), or § 74.51(c) of this chapter, as appropriate;