PNNL

Abstract

This paper describes the strategies and process used by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) nuclear Material Protection, Control and Accounting (MPC&A) Regulatory Development Project (RDP) to restructure its support for MPC&A regulations in the Russian Federation. The RDP adopted a project management approach to defining, implementing, and managing an effective nuclear regulatory structure. This approach included defining and developing the regulatory documents necessary to provide the Russian Federation with a comprehensive regulatory structure that supports an effective and sustainable MPC&A Program in Russia. This effort began in February 2005, included a series of three multi-agency meetings in April, June, and July, and culminated in August 2005 in a mutually agreed-upon plan to define and populate the nuclear regulatory system in the Russian Federation for non-military, weapons-usable material. This nuclear regulatory system will address all non-military Category I and II nuclear material at the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency (Rosatom), the Russian Agency for Industry (Rosprom), and the Federal Agency for Marine and River Transport (FAMRT) facilities; nuclear material in transport and storage; and nuclear material under the oversight of the Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervisory Service of Russia (Rostechnadzor). The Russian and U.S. MPC&A management teams approved the plan, and the DOE National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) NA-255, Office of Infrastructure and Sustainability (ONIS), is providing funding. The Regulatory Development Project is managed by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) NNSA.