Evaluation of Quantification of Margins and Uncertainties Methodology for Assessing and Certifying the Reliability of the Nuclear Stockpile

93 Pages·2009·0.69 MB·English

by  National Research Council, Committee on the Evaluation of Quantification of Margins and Uncertainties Methodology for Assessing and Certifying the Reliability of the Nuclear Stockpile

Evaluation of
Quantification
of Margins and
uncErtaintiEs
MEthodology for assEssing
and cErtifying the rEliability
of the nuclEar stockpilE
Committee on the Evaluation of Quantifcation of Margins and
Uncertainties Methodology for Assessing and Certifying the
Reliability of the Nuclear Stockpile
Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20001
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This project was supported by Contract No. DE-AT01-07NA78285 between the
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agencies that provided support for this project.
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COMMITTEE ON EvALuATION OF QuANTIFICATION
OF MARgINS AND uNCERTAINTIES METHODOLOgy
FOR ASSESSINg AND CERTIFyINg THE RELIAbILITy
OF THE NuCLEAR STOCkPILE
JOHN F. AHEARNE (NAE), Sigma Xi, The Scientifc Research Society,
Chair
MARVIN ADAMS, Texas A&M University
JOHN CORNWALL, University of California, Los Angeles
DOUGLAS EARDLEY, University of California, Santa Barbara
B. JOHN GARRICK (NAE), Independent Consultant
RICHARD L. GARWIN (NAS/NAE/IOM), IBM Thomas J. Watson
Research Center (fellow emeritus)
1
SYDELL P. GOLD, Independent Consultant
YOGENDRA GUPTA, Washington State University
DAVID HAMMER, Cornell University
THEODORE HARDEBECK, Science Applications International
Corporation
JOHN KAMMERDIENER, Independent Consultant
SALLIE KELLER-McNULTY, Rice University
ERNEST J. MONIZ, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MICHAEL ORTIZ, California Institute of Technology
JERRY PAUL, University of Tennessee
ROBERT ROSNER, Argonne National Laboratory
ROBERT SELDEN, Independent Consultant
Staff
RICHARD ROWBERG, Study Director
GREG EYRING, Senior Program Offcer, Air Force Science Board
MICAH LOWENTHAL, Senior Program Offcer, Nuclear and Radiation
Studies Board
KEVIN CROWLEY, Board Director, Nuclear and Radiation Studies
Board
MARGARET MARSH HUYNH, Senior Program Assistant, Computer
Science and Telecommunications Board (to September 2007)
JANICE SABUDA, Senior Program Assistant, Computer Science and
Telecommunications Board (September 2007 to March 2008)
1
Deceased, March 4, 2008.
RADHIKA CHARI, Administrative Coordinator, Computer Science and
Telecommunications Board (March 2008 to April 2008)
ERIC WHITAKER, Senior Program Assistant, Computer Science and
Telecommunications Board (April 2008 to present)
i
Preface
Maintaining the capabilities of the nuclear weapons stockpile and
performing the annual assessment for the stockpile’s certifcation involves
a wide range of processes, technologies, and expertise. An important and
valuable element helping to link those components is the quantifcation
of margins and uncertainties (QMU) framework. In 2006, Congress asked
the National Research Council to evaluate the QMU methodology as
used by the national security laboratories. The National Nuclear Security
Administration (NNSA) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) then
affrmed its interest in this request. Congress and NNSA were interested
in how the national security labs were using QMU, how it was being used
for the annual assessment, whether there were problematic differences
among the three national security labs in the way they were applying
QMU, and whether QMU could be used to help certify a proposed reliable
replacement warhead. This report presents an assessment of each of these
four issues and includes fndings and recommendations to help guide
laboratory and NNSA implementation and development of the QMU
framework and congressional oversight of those activities.
At several places in the report, reference is made to an Annex that
contains classifed information. The Annex includes information the U.S.
Department of Energy and the National Academy of Sciences have deter-
mined is not releasable to the public because it would disclose matters
described in title 5 U.S.C. Section 552(b).
ii
Acknowledgments
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for
their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with pro-
cedures approved by the NRC’s Report Review Committee. The purpose
of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments
that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as
possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for
objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review
comments and draft manuscript remain confdential to protect the integ-
rity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individu-
als for their review of this report:
Will Happer (NAS), Princeton University,
Jon Helton, Arizona State University (retired),
Raymond Jeanloz (NAS), University of California, Berkeley,
ADM Richard Mies, U.S. Navy (retired),
William Press (NAS), University of Texas at Austin
Richard Wagner, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (retired),
and
Ellen Williams (NAS), University of Maryland.
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many construc-
tive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the con-
clusions or recommendations, nor did they see the fnal draft of the report
before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Chris G.
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