Assessment of enriched uranium storage safety issues at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant

This document is an assessment of the technical safety issues pertaining to the storage of EU at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant. The purpose of the assessment is to serve as the basis for defining the technical standards for storage of EU at Y-12. A formal assessment of the Y-12 materials acceptance criteria for EU is currently being conducted by a task force cochaired by B. G. Eddy of DOE Oak Ridge Operations and S. 0. Cox of Y-12 Defense Programs. The mission of this technical assessment for storage is obviously dependent on results of the acceptance assessment. Clearly, the two efforts require coordination to avoid inconsistencies. In addition, both these Assessments must be consistent with the Environmental Assessment for EU storage at Y-12.1 Both the Storage Assessment and the Criteria for Acceptance must take cognizance of the fact that a portion of the EU to be submitted for storage in the future is expected to be derived from foreign sources and to include previously irradiated uranium containing significant levels of transuranics, radioactive daughter products, and unstable uranium isotopes that do not occur in the EU stream of the DOE weapons complex. National security considerations may dictate that these materials be accepted despite the fact that they fail to conform to the Acceptance Criteria. This document will attempt to address the complexities inherent in this situation