[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 10, Volume 2]

[Revised as of January 1, 2006]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 10CFR73.60]



[Page 447-448]

 

                            TITLE 10--ENERGY

 

          CHAPTER I--NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION (CONTINUED)

 

PART 73_PHYSICAL PROTECTION OF PLANTS AND MATERIALS--Table of Contents

 

Sec. 73.60  Additional requirements for physical protection at nonpower 

reactors.



    Each nonpower reactor licensee who, pursuant to the requirements of 

part 70 of this chapter, possesses at any site or contiguous sites 

subject to control by the licensee uranium-235 (contained in uranium 

enriched to 20 percent or more in the U-235 isotope), uranium-233, or 

plutonium, alone or in any combination in a quantity of 5000 grams or 

more computed by the formula, grams=(grams contained U-235)+2.5 (grams 

U-233+grams plutonium), shall protect the special nuclear material from 

theft or diversion pursuant to the requirements of paragraphs 73.67 (a), 

(b), (c), and (d), in addition to this section, except that a licensee 

is exempt from the requirements of paragraphs (a), (b), (c), (d), and 

(e) of this section to the extent that it possesses or uses special 

nuclear material that is not readily separable from other radioactive 

material and that has a total external radiation dose rate in excess of 

100 rems per hour at a distance of 3 feet from any accessible surface 

without intervening shielding.

    (a) Access requirements. (1) Special nuclear material shall be 

stored or processed only in a material access area. No activities other 

than those which require access to special nuclear material or equipment 

employed in the process, use, or storage of special nuclear material, 

shall be permitted within a material access area.

    (2) Material access areas shall be located only within a protected 

area to which access is controlled.

    (3) Special nuclear material not in process shall be stored in a 

vault equipped with an intrusion alarm or in a vault-type room, and each 

such vault or vault-type room shall be controlled as a separate material 

access area.

    (4) Enriched uranium scrap in the form of small pieces, cuttings, 

chips, solutions or in other forms which result from a manufacturing 

process, contained in 30-gallon or larger containers, with a uranium-235 

content of less than 0.25 grams per liter, may be stored within a locked 

and separately fenced area which is within a larger protected area 

provided that the storage area is no closer than 25 feet to the 

perimeter of the protected area. The storage area when unoccupied shall 

be protected by a guard or watchman who shall patrol at intervals not 

exceeding 4 hours, or by intrusion alarms.

    (5) Admittance to a material access area shall be under the control 

of authorized individuals and limited to individuals who require such 

access to perform their duties.

    (6) Prior to entry into a material access area, packages shall be 

searched for devices such as firearms, explosives, incendiary devices, 

or counterfeit substitute items which could be used for theft or 

diversion of special nuclear material.

    (7) Methods to observe individuals within material access areas to 

assure that special nuclear material is not diverted shall be provided 

and used on a continuing basis.

    (b) Exit requirement. Each individual, package, and vehicle shall be 

searched for concealed special nuclear material before exiting from a 

material access area unless exit is into a contiguous material access 

area. The search may be carried out by a physical search or by use of 

equipment capable of detecting the presence of concealed special nuclear 

material.



[[Page 448]]



    (c) Detection aid requirement. Each unoccupied material access area 

shall be locked and protected by an intrusion alarm on active status. 

All emergency exits shall be continuously alarmed.

    (d) Testing and maintenance. Each licensee shall test and maintain 

intrusion alarms, physical barriers, and other devices utilized pursuant 

to the requirements of this section as follows:

    (1) Intrusion alarms, physical barriers, and other devices used for 

material protection shall be maintained in operable condition.

    (2) Each intrusion alarm shall be inspected and tested for 

operability and required functional performance at the beginning and end 

of each interval during which it is used for material protection, but 

not less frequently than once every seven (7) days.

    (e) Response requirement. Each licensee shall establish, maintain, 

and follow an NRC-approved safeguards contingency plan for responding to 

threats, thefts, and radiological sabotage related to the special 

nuclear material and nuclear facilities subject to the provisions of 

this section. Safeguards contingency plans must be in accordance with 

the criteria in Appendix C to this part, ``Licensee Safeguards 

Contingency Plans.''

    (f) In addition to the fixed-site requirements set forth in this 

section and in Sec. 73.67, the Commission may require, depending on the 

individual facility and site conditions, any alternate or additional 

measures deemed necessary to protect against radiological sabotage at 

nonpower reactors licensed to operate at or above a power level of 2 

megawatts thermal.



[38 FR 35430, Dec. 28, 1973, as amended at 44 FR 68199, Nov. 28, 1979; 

57 FR 33431, July 29, 1992; 58 FR 13700, Mar. 15, 1993]



  Physical Protection of Special Nuclear Material of Moderate and Low 

                         Strategic Significance