October 02, 2013
Nuclear Materials Control and Accountability
Change Notice 3 (October 2013)
This document describes establishing and maintaining a Material Control and Accountability (MC&A) program, where each MC&A program element is a part of a quality MC&A program. Each site/facility operator needs to establish a sustainable, effective graded safeguards program for the control and accounting of nuclear materials to detect and deter theft and diversion, and to prevent the unauthorized control of a weapon, test device, or materials that can be used to make an improvised nuclear device. The MC&A program implements a defense-in-depth system to ensure that all accountable nuclear materials are in their authorized location and being used for their intended purposes such that single component failures will not result in significant vulnerabilities. An effective and efficient MC&A program is based on the strategic and monetary value of the nuclear material.