Mobile Plutonium Remote Recovery and Response
Savannah River National Laboratory
Mobile Plutonium Facility
Remote Recovery and Response
The Remote Recovery and Response (R3) capability is a subset of the Mobile Plutonium Facility (MPF) that can expeditiously recover limited quantities of plutonium material outside of United States borders. Plutonium (Pu) metals, oxides, or Plutonium/Highly Enriched Uranium mix (Pu/HEU) are safely removed from a host country facility for final packaging and shipment.
The MPF was developed and is maintained through the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration Office of Material Management and Minimization Mobile Packing Program.
Capabilities
- Deployable outside of the contigous U.S. in 3-7 days
- Deployable with small team of 4-8 subject matter experts
- Material container integrity inspection
- Overpack of recovered containers as needed
- Mobile X-ray for content and inner container verification
- Classified/unclassified communications systems
- Non-destructive assay (NDA) qualitative measurements
![](https://www.srnl.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/MPF_R31.jpg?resize=1024,684)
MPF R3 Equipment
The MPF R3 includes all necessary equipment to execute limited material recovery and removal in a single ISU-90 shipping container:
- Glovebags with HEPA filters, glovebox material removal kits and HEPA vacs
- Radiological surveying, air-monitoring equipment, dosimetry, PPE and decontamination supplies
- Communications equipment: radios, satellite phones, laptops and satellite system (classified and unclassified)
- Portable generators
- HPGe and RadEye for characterization analysis
- Portable, battery-operated digital radiography (DR)
- Packaging equipment for temporary storage or shipment
- Spot, a customized quadruped robot capable of conducting radiological industrial hazard surveys and facility mapping
![A black and yellow robot dog called Spot walking on geometrical patterned carpet.](https://www.srnl.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/MPF_R31_SPOT.jpg?resize=975,1024)
Download Fact Sheet
Contact Information
Robert Minnick
803.335.6333
robert.minnick@srnl.doe.gov
Jack Dewes
803.679.7314
jack.dewes@srnl.doe.gov