PERSPECTIVES ON NUCLEAR MATERIALS SAFETY

Today I would like to outline the current U.S. perspective on nuclear materials safety. I believe the experiences gained through our past cooperative activities, including those related to nuclear reactor safety, can play an important role in the success of the nuclear materials safety initiative. At the same time, I would like to challenge each of you to work together to help better define what this initiative will become in the future. 

Comments on the standard, Nuclear Criticality Safety in Operations with Fissionable Materials Outside Reactors, are, of course, dependent on the reviewer s experience and the safety principles and organizational structure with which he is familiar. So, to put my comments in perspective, it will be helpful to recount briefly the separations operations and the personnel organization at the Savannah River Plant. 

As a professional, he feels responsible for his safety. This puts the social constraints into perspective. He considers his work at the nuclear power site a result of a balanced choice, rational and reasonable, and that the daily pendular movement between his home and his work is a choice within his own power to make. On the other hand, he notes that the connection of radioactive materials to his house, with a reduced distance, is no longer under his control, and that in this case, he can no longer mobilize his authority or his technical know-how. In practical terms, he fears a transportation accident that he cannot control and which would lead to radioactive cargo turning over close to his home. 

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