INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY 

DEPARTMENT OF SAFEGUARDS

DESIGN INFORMATION 

QUESTIONNAIRE *

IAEA USE ONLY

N-77 (11-2020)

SPENT FUEL ENCAPSULATION PLANTS

APPROVED BY OMB: NO. 3150-0056 EXPIRES: 11/30/2023

Estimated burden per response to comply with this mandatory collection request: 360 hours. NRC is 

required to collect this information for reporting to IAEA from facility licensees appearing on the U.S. 

Eligible List. Send comments regarding burden estimate to the FOIA, Library, and Information 

Collections Branch (T-6 A10M), U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, 

or by e-mail to Infocollects.Resource@nrc.gov, and the OMB reviewer at: OMB Office of Information 

and Regulatory Affairs, (3150-0056), Attn: Desk Officer for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 725 

17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20503; e-mail: oira_submission@omb.eop.gov. The NRC may 

not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless 

the document requesting or requiring the collection displays a currently valid OMB control number.

The purpose of this document is to 

obtain the facility design information 

required by the Agency in order to 

discharge its safeguards responsibilities. 

It will also serve as a checklist for 

examination of design information by 

Agency inspector(s). If, in any area, 

insufficient space is available add further 

shee ts to the extent necessary.

TYPE

IAEA USE ONLY 

COUNTRY 

COUNTRY OFFICER

DATE OF INITIAL DATA

VERIFICATION

LAST REVIEW AND UPDATING

Spent Fuel Encapsulation Plants
N-77 (11-2020)

ALL FACILITIES

GENERAL INFORMATION

1. Name of the facility 

(include usual abbreviation)

2. Location and postal 

address

3. Owner 

(Legally responsible)

4. Operator 

(Legally responsible)

5. Description 

(Main features only)

6. Purpose

7. Status 

(e.g., planned; under construction, 

in operation; shut down; closed 

down; decommissioned)

8. Construction schedule dates 

(if not in operation) 

Start of Construction (MM/DD/YYYY) Commissioning (MM/DD/YYYY) Operation (MM/DD/YYYY)

9. Normal operating mode 

(days only, two shift, three shift; 

number of days/annum, etc.)

10. Facility layout 

(structural containment, fences, 

access, nuclear material storage 

areas, laboratories, waste disposal 

areas, routes followed by nuclear 

material, experimental and test areas, 

etc.) 

DRAWING(S) ATTACHED UNDER REF. NOs.

11. Sitting of facility 

(Maps showing in sufficient detail: 

location, premises and perimeter of 

facility, other buildings, roads, railways, 

rivers, etc.) 

DRAWING(S) AND/OR MAPS ATTACHED UNDER REF. NOs.

12. Names and/or titles and address 

of responsible officers 

(for nuclear material accountancy and 

control and contact with the Agency. If 

possible attach organization charts 

showing position of officers) 
OVERALL PROCESS PARAMETERS

13. Facility description 

(indicating important items of 

equipment which use, produce or 

process nuclear material, all process 

stages, storage areas and points as 

pertaining to the measurement, control 

and accountancy of nuclear material)

GENERAL FACILITY DIAGRAM(S) ATTACHED UNDER REF. NOs.)

N-77 (11-2020)

14. Process description

PROCESS FLOW SHEET ATTACHED UNDER REF. NOs.)

15. Design capacity 

(e.g. number of spent fuel assemblies 

or CANDU bundles, other quantities of 

nuclear material in metric tons)

16. Anticipated annual disposals 

(e.g. number of spent fuel assemblies 

or CANDU bundles, other quantities of 

nuclear material in effective kilograms)

17. Other important items of 

equipment processing nuclear 

material, if any

NUCLEAR MATERIAL DESCRIPTION AND FLOW

18. Main material description

i) Main types of nuclear materials and 

accountability units to be handled in 

the facility

ii) Physical (mechanical) form, 

cladding, and overall dimensions of 

spent fuel assemblies or CANDU 

bundles

DRAWING(S) ATTACHED UNDER REF. NOs.

iv) Physical form and overall 

dimensions of other types of 

containers and packaging

v) Means of item identification

vi) Range of initial weights of heavy 

metal and initial enrichments of 

uranium in fuel assemblies

iii) Physical (mechanical) form, overall 

dimensions, and capacity of disposal 

canisters

DRAWING(S) ATTACHED UNDER REF. NOs.

vii) Range of spent fuel burn-ups, 

cooling times, and Pu contents of fuel 

assemblies

viii) Means of batch identification, 

batch size, flow rate, and campaign 

period

DRAWING(S) ATTACHED UNDER REF. NOs.
N-77 (11-2020)

NUCLEAR MATERIAL DESCRIPTION AND FLOW

ix) Range of radiation levels in nuclear 

material storage and process areas

x) Range of radiation and heat levels 

at exterior of transport and disposal 

containers

xi) Frequency of receipt and shipment 

(batches/units per month)

19. Other nuclear material in the 

facility and its location, if any

20. Schematic flowsheet for nuclear 

material 

(identify flow and inventory 

measurement points, accountability 

areas, inventory locations, etc.) 

DRAWING(S) ATTACHED UNDER REF. NOs. 

21. Nuclear material flow quantities 

for each nuclear material handling 

area 

(including range and maximum 

quantities of nuclear material at one 

time) i.e.: 

 -- process area (handling cell) 

 -- storage area (input fuel assemblies; 

disposal canisters) 

 -- other locations

22. Design range of inventories of 

nuclear material in each storage 

area and process area

NUCLEAR MATERIAL HANDLING

23. Container and packaging 

description

DRAWING(S) ATTACHED UNDER REF. NOs. 

i) Describe containers and packaging 

in which nuclear material is received: 

 -- TYPE: 

 -- MATERIAL: 

 -- CAPACITY (In terms of spent fuel 

assemblies or CANDU bundles and 

other nuclear material): 

 -- IDENTIFICATION FEATURES: 

 -- SIZE:

ii) Describe containers and packaging 

in which nuclear material is shipped: 

(Inner container and over pack 

container: 

 -- TYPE: 

 -- MATERIAL: 

 -- CAPACITY (In terms of spent fuel 

assemblies or CANDU bundles and 

other nuclear material): 

 -- IDENTIFICATION FEATURES: 

 -- SIZE:

iii) Range of radiation and heat 

levels at exterior of storage and 

transport packages and disposal 

canisters 
N-77 (11-2020)

NUCLEAR MATERIAL HANDLING

24. Description of each nuclear 

material storage and process area 

(Including range of radiation levels in 

nuclear material storage and process 

areas)

26. Methods and means of handling 

and transport of nuclear material 

(Including loading into disposal 

containers)

27. Transportation routes followed 

by nuclear material 

(With reference to plant layout)

28. Maintenance, decontamination 

i) Normal plant maintenance

DRAWING(S) ATTACHED UNDER REF. NOs. 

25. Shielding 

(for storage and transfer)

PLANT MAINTENANCE

ii) Plant and equipment 

decontamination

iii) Plant start-up and plant shutdown 

procedures if different from normal 

operation

PROTECTION AND SAFETY MEASURES

29. Basic measures for physical 

protection of nuclear material

30. Specific health and safety rules 

for inspector compliance

NUCLEAR MATERIAL ACCOUNTANCY AND CONTROL

31. System description 

Give a description of the nuclear 

material accountancy system, the 

method of recording and reporting 

accountancy data and establishing 

material balances, procedures for 

account adjustment after plant 

inventory, mistakes, etc., under the 

following headings:

SPECIMEN FORMS USED IN ALL PROCEDURES ATTACHED UNDER REF. No.

i) General 

(This section should also state what 

general and subsidiary ledgers will be 

used, their form (hard copies, tapes, 

microfilms, etc.) as well as who has the 

responsibility and authority. Source 

data (e.g. shipping and receiving 

forms, internal transfer documents, 

physical inventory forms, the initial 

recording of measurements and 

measurement control sheets) should 

be identified. The procedures for 

making adjustments, the source data 

and records should be covered as well 

as how the adjustments are authorized 

and substantiated)
N-77 (11-2020)

ii) Receipts 

(including method of dealing with 

account corrections; the checks and 

measurements used to confirm spent 

fuel items, and the persons 

responsible for those determinations 

should be defined)

iv) Physical inventory 

(Description of procedures and 

methods of operator's inventory taking 

(for item accountancy), frequency, 

estimated distribution and accessibility 

of nuclear material, and verification 

method, and expected accuracy for 

nuclear material measurements. In 

particular, the description of 

procedures should also provide the 

basic inventory approach to be used, i.

e. planning, organizing, and 

conducting the inventory, prelisting, 

use of prior measurement data; who 

has the primary responsibility for the 

inventory)

v) Operational records and accounts 

(including logbooks, general ledgers, 

internal transfer forms, method of 

adjustment or correction and retention 

location, and languages; control 

measures and responsibility for 

records)

iii) Shipments

32. Features related to containment 

and surveillance measures 

(general description of applied or 

possible measures in reference to floor 

plan or plant layout)

NUCLEAR MATERIAL ACCOUNTANCY AND CONTROL

33. For each flow and inventory 

measurement point identified under 

Question 20, Give the following: 

For each measurement point fill in 

separate sheet. 

Number of measurement points: 1 

i) Description of location, type 

identification 

SEPARATE SHEET(S) CAN BE ATTACHED FOR EACH MEASUREMENT POINT. IF NECESSARY, 

ATTACH DRAWING(S)

ii) Types of inventory change at this 

measurement point

iii) Possibilities to use this 

measurement point for physical 

inventory taking
N-77 (11-2020)

NUCLEAR MATERIAL ACCOUNTANCY AND CONTROL

vii) Measurement equipment used and 

corresponding accuracies 

(including radiation measurements of 

fuel assemblies in handling cell)

ix) Method of converting source data 

to batch data

x) Means of batch identification

viii) Measurement control, including 

technique and frequency of calibration 

of equipment used, and standards 

used

xii) Anticipated number of inventory 

batches

xi) Anticipated batch flow rate per year

iv) Description of nuclear material 

(including physical and chemical form, 

cladding, initial and final heavy metal 

weight, initial and final uranium isotopic 

composition, burn-up, cooling time, 

and Pu content)

v) Nuclear material containers, 

packaging, and method of storage

vi) Item identification and 

containment-surveillance measures 

(including special identifying features 

and radiation and heat characteristics 

of disposal canisters)

xiii) Anticipated number of items per 

flow and inventory batches

xiv) Type, composition and quantity of 

nuclear material per batch 

(with indication of batch data, total 

weight of each element of nuclear 

material, and form of nuclear material)

34. Decommissioning 

schedule dates 

End of operations (MM/DD/YYYY) Decommissioned (MM/DD/YYYY)

POST-OPERATION INFORMATION

35. Facility decommissioning 

plan 

PLAN(s) ATTACHED UNDER REF. NOs 
POST-OPERATION INFORMATION

OPTIONAL INFORMATION

Signature of Responsible Officer

Date (MM/DD/YYYY)

36. Optional information 

(that the operator considers relevant to 

safeguarding the facility)

i) Key events of the 

decommissioning plan

ii) Removal and recovery of 

nuclear material

iii) Removing or rendering 

inoperable of essential equipment

N-77 (11-2020)