Materials control and accountability at the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant

The ICPP high enriched uranium recovery process has historically been operated as a single Material Balance Area (MBA), with input and output measurement capabilities. Safeguards initiated changes in the last five years have resulted in significant materials control and accountability improvements. Those changes include semi-automation of process accountability measurement, data collection and recording; definition of Sub-MBAs; standard plant cleanouts; and, bimonthly inventory estimates. Process monitoring capabilities are also being installed to provide independent operational procedural compliance verification, process anomaly detection, and enhanced materials traceability. Development of a sensitivity analysis approach to defining process measurement requirements is in progress