An Unclassified Digest of a Classified Report Entitled 'Commercial Nuclear Fuel Facilities Need Better Security'

The Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) is responsible for safeguarding nuclear materials at its facilities, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is charged with guarding such materials at commercial facilities. Security systems are based on material accountability and physical security.

Problems in accountability systems resulted from technical limitations in measurements and time lags in accounting for missing materials. The NRC could achieve more effective monitoring of materials if it changed procedures to apply to the individual material balance areas rather than to an entire plant. Weaknesses in physical security included testing of alarms, placing of guards, personnel search and access control, and emergency lighting. ERDA has more effective physical security regulations than does NRC, but NRC has more detailed accountability regulations. Security systems should be upgraded to protect against an increased threat level, using the best features of each system.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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