MC and A performance testing status: an OSE evaluation

Over the past few years, the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Security Evaluations (OSE) inspections identified performance testing deficiencies in both contractor nuclear material control and accountability (MC A) programs and field office nuclear material survey programs. Questions about the usefulness and effectiveness of these DOE performance testing programs prompted this evaluation. Information about MC A performance testing was solicited from DOE sites and compared with results of OSE inspections of nuclear materials survey programs and contractor MC A programs. This paper summaries the results of this evaluation and highlights those systems that have received minimal attention as well as those that have been adequately reviewed using performance testing programs. Conclusions are presented and recommendations are made. A catalog of performance tests was generated from this evaluation using input from the field and OSE inspections that will enhance performance testing programs. In addition, a compilation of information generated from OSE inspections is discussed that related these performance tests to the DOE MC A Standards and Criteria. 4 refs.