Volume 6, Number 1
September 2008

Editor's Note: Each of the six INMM technical divisions will be highlighted in upcoming issues of the Communicator. This issue, we present the MC&A Technical Division.

The MC&A Technical Division of INMM
By Chris A. Pickett
Chair, Materials Control and Accountability Technical Division

The Materials Control and Accountability Technical Division (MC&A) is dedicated to the improvement and promulgation of methodologies and technologies that are used for the control, surveillance, measurement, and accounting of nuclear materials; including the global policies and practices that support these functions.

Beginning in July 2007, the MC&A Technical Division set up an organizational structure that is designed to sustain leadership and increase member involvement.  The concept creates standing committees within the division organized around the main topical areas representing the foundations of MC&A.  The current division organizational structure is listed below.

Division Chair: Chris Pickett, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Vice Chair: Cary Crawford - Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Secretary: Jim Sprinkle - Los Alamos National Laboratory

Standing Committees
These committees are made up of members of the MC&A Division and are responsible (through the committee chairs) for organizing events and workshops, making presentations in these subject areas at division meetings, and helping prepare the technical program for the annual meeting.

1. Accounting Systems – Andrew Jackson
2. Control & Surveillance Systems – TBD
3. Materials Management – Ben Watts/Teresa Knight
4. Measurement Systems – Mike Baker
1. NDA Users Group – Saleem Salaymeh
2. DA Methods – Usha Narayanan
5. Policy & Best Practices – Jeff Jay/Glenn Tuttle

Division Representatives:

Communications/Journal – Cameron Coates
International & Industry Outreach – Rose Martyn/ Bill Hopwood
Sponsorship – Leigh Gunn
Web Site Support & Information Review – Tom Williams

Ad Hoc Committee:

50th Anniversary – Amy Whitworth - Chair

Division Goals
The current Division goals, in no specific order, are:

1. Plan some well-received activities for the 50th anniversary of INMM
Amy Whitworth is taking this on for the Division.  Her team is working with the INMM 50th anniversary committee to plan events for this years meeting which celebrates the 50th anniversary of the founding of INMM and next year which will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the annual meeting.

2. Re-engage the participation of the measurement community
Mike Baker from LANL is leading this effort and working with Saleem Salaymeh from SRNL to put together the NDA Users Group meeting to occur at the 2008 INMM annual meeting.  A current listing of some of the topics that the NDA User group is exploring are:

• Regulatory considerations that pertain to measurements of nuclear fuel cycle materials.
• Types of fuel cycle facilities that might require NDA instrumentation.
• Specific measurement needs at the new facilities.
• Ideas and speculation on new NDA instruments for the nuclear fuel cycle.

We are engaged with the DA Users Group and through the efforts of Usha Narayanan and Stephen Vogt (from NBL) organized a session at this year’s annual meeting on Destructive Analysis (DA) methods.

3. Grow participation in the MC&A Technical Division
This effort is being worked on multiple fronts within the Division, through Jeff Jay’s Policy and Best Practices committee and with Rose Martyn from GE who agreed to lead our Industry Outreach efforts.  With the renaissance that is occurring in nuclear energy, considerable interest in MC&A policies and practices are expected as new facilities are built and the next generations of MC&A practitioners are trained.

Cary Crawford and Bill Hopwood continue to invite and encourage the participation of Russian, Korean, Japanese, and other international organizations that have interest in domestic MC&A.

We also continue to work with Chapters and universities to grow both our member and student member involvement in the Division.

4. Promulgate Best Practices and topics that are pertinent to our members through workshops and other venues. 
Continue the planning and collaboration with other Technical Divisions on Workshops and events that are timely, topical, and pertinent to the members and missions of INMM.  Upcoming efforts are listed below.

The MC&A and IS Technical Divisions are moving forward with a joint INMM/ESARDA sponsored “International Workshop on Gamma Spectrometry Analysis Codes for U and Pu Isotopics” November 3 – 7, 2008 at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.  Information can be found at http://www.inmm.org/events/gamma/index.cfm.

The objective of the workshop is to provide an international forum for code developers, commercial distributors and end users to interface and develop solutions to many of the programmatic and technical issues associated with each of the codes capabilities, limitations, applicability, sustainability, and version control.  The workshop will provide an international forum for discussing development of an internationally accepted standard test method for such codes.

The workshop will provide end users with an opportunity to interact with many of the original code developers and current commercial distributors in a hands-on, laboratory environment to better understand the application and limitations of the various codes.  It will also provide a unique opportunity for code developers and commercial distributors to interact with the user community to better understand the challenges that the user community faces when utilizing the codes in a laboratory or field environment.  The workshop will include lectures from each of the various code developers.  It will also include presentations from many end users.  All workshop participants will actively participate in gamma spectroscopy system operation, data collection, data evaluation and error propagation.

Featured codes include: FRAM, MGA, MGAU, NaIGEM, WinU235, WinUF6 and U235HI.  Other codes may also be included.

The INMM Southeast Chapter is working with the Accounting Systems Committee Chair for a Spring 2009 workshop on “Best Practices in Materials Accounting”  co-sponsored by the MC&A Technical Division and the INMM Southeast Chapter.  The tentative target date for the workshop is March 16 – 20, 2009, in Augusta, GA.  Volunteer Technical Co-chairs are Andrew Jackson, B&W/Y-12, Amy Johnson, NFS/MOX-SRS and Fay Armstrong, WSRC/SRS.  Proposed workshop topics for panel discussions and technical sessions for the Spring Workshop will be presented for review and comment during the July Executive Committee Meeting in Nashville.

5. Create a forum for discussing policies and promulgating Best PracticesAmy Whitworth recently compiled a list of Best Practices from the 2004 Prague workshop and a recent workshop she hosted in May 2007.  These practices are available on the INNM Web site http://www.inmm.org/best_practice/index.cfm.

In summary, this is an exciting time to be an INMM member with the renaissance in nuclear energy, the modernization of some DOE/NNSA facilities, and the celebration of our 50th anniversaries create numerous challenges and opportunities for members of the MC&A Technical Division.  Anyone who is interested in participating or contributing in Division activities please feel free to contact any of the Division leaders listed in this article.

Chris A. Pickett