Nuclear Industry

NRC-Aligned Data Destruction for Nuclear Industry

Witnessed destruction of plant-system HDDs, security-system SSDs, and SGI-bearing media for commercial nuclear power, fuel-cycle, and decommissioning facilities. Methods follow NIST SP 800-88 r1. Certificate of Destruction in 24 hours.

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  • 24-Hour Certificate of Destruction
  • Bonded & Insured Technicians
  • Continuous Chain of Custody
  • Methods follow NIST SP 800-88 r1
  • Witnessed Destruction

What NRC 10 CFR Part 73 Requires of Nuclear Disposal

Nuclear industry data destruction satisfies NRC Cyber Security and Information Protection regulations. 10 CFR §73.54 (Cyber Security at Power Reactors) and 10 CFR §73.22 (Protection of Safeguards Information) require licensees to protect digital plant assets and Safeguards Information from unauthorized disclosure, including during media disposal. NRC inspections are conducted on a roughly biennial cycle for power reactors.

Three operational constraints define nuclear destruction. First, Safeguards Information (SGI) carries handling restrictions beyond ordinary controlled information; SGI-bearing media destruction requires cleared personnel and 10 CFR §73.22(d) handling controls through the destruction event. Second, plant-system drives (control room, safety system, security computer) sit behind protected-area boundaries and cannot leave the boundary without armed-escort or owner-controlled-area exception authorization. Third, nuclear-facility destruction is integrated with the facility security plan; the Certificate of Destruction is part of the SGI lifecycle audit chain.

Every job produces a Certificate of Destruction citing NRC 10 CFR Part 73 conformance, chain-of-custody documentation that respects protected-area boundaries, and SGI-handling-conformant documentation where applicable. The documentation has been accepted by NRC Region inspectors during cyber-security and SGI compliance reviews.

Regulations Your Business Must Follow

NRC 10 CFR §73.54 Cyber Security at Power Reactors
Power reactor licensees must protect digital plant assets that are critical digital assets (CDAs) or support CDAs. Media disposal must prevent recovery of CDA-related information. Our shredding and degaussing methods follow NIST SP 800-88 r1 and satisfy §73.54 disposal review.
NRC 10 CFR §73.22 Protection of Safeguards Information
SGI must be controlled, transmitted, and destroyed under handling controls in §73.22(d). Our cleared-personnel destruction workflow and SGI-handling chain of custody satisfy §73.22(d) destruction provisions.
NRC 10 CFR Part 73 Appendix B General Performance Objective
Physical protection programs must protect against radiological sabotage and theft. Documented destruction with chain-of-custody log supports the general performance objective for information protection in cyber-security and safeguards programs.
DOE Order 470.6 Nuclear Security Program (for DOE facilities)
DOE nuclear facilities follow DOE security orders that mirror NRC requirements. Our destruction documentation is formatted to support DOE Office of Enterprise Assessments inspections alongside NRC reviews.
NIST SP 800-88 r1 Guidelines for Media Sanitization
The federal benchmark for media sanitization. Our destruction methods map to the Destroy category for HDDs, SSDs, flash, and magnetic tape — satisfying NRC §73.54 and §73.22(d) media-disposal review.

What Nuclear Buyers Face — and How We Solve It

  • Our NRC Region inspector reviews cyber-security and SGI disposal.

    Every Certificate of Destruction cites NRC 10 CFR §73.54 and §73.22(d) conformance and the destruction method per asset. The format has been accepted in NRC Region cyber-security and SGI compliance inspections as evidence of disposal-program effectiveness.

  • Plant-system drives can't leave the protected area without exception.

    On-site mobile destruction inside the protected area boundary. Plant-system drives, security computer drives, and CDA-related media are destroyed before leaving the boundary, with armed-escort or owner-controlled-area exception authorization documented on the chain of custody.

  • Safeguards Information requires §73.22(d) handling through destruction.

    SGI-bearing media is destroyed under §73.22(d) handling controls — cleared-personnel-only handling, sealed-container manifest with SGI flag, destruction operator with appropriate access authorization, and SGI-handling chain of custody documented end-to-end.

  • Decommissioning involves thousands of legacy drives and tape archives.

    Decommissioning projects use our enterprise workflow: multi-day scheduling, palletized pickup with system-coded labels, per-system chain-of-custody manifests, and a master Certificate of Destruction with system-level line items. Past decommissioning projects have moved 8,000+ drives and 4,000+ tape cartridges with full documentation.

  • DOE facility security programs sometimes mirror NRC requirements.

    Our destruction documentation is formatted to support DOE Office of Enterprise Assessments inspections alongside NRC Region reviews. The Certificate of Destruction includes DOE-specific conformance fields when DOE facilities are involved.

  • Vendor-RMA returns of security-computer drives need cleared handling.

    Security-computer vendor RMA returns are accepted under cleared-personnel chain-of-custody. The asset is tied back to the licensee, the originating system, and the vendor RMA case. Cross-vendor destruction documentation consolidates on a master Certificate with SGI/CDA flags preserved per asset.

Audit Documentation You Receive

  • Certificate of Destruction

    Per-job audit document with chain-of-custody log, destruction methods used, witness signatures, and regulation references. Issued by Data Destruction Inc. within 24 hours.

  • Chain of Custody Log

    Tracks each piece of media from pickup through destruction with timestamps and named handler signatures. Required for audit defense.

  • Serialized Inventory

    Asset-by-asset inventory with serial numbers, manufacturer, model, and asset tag for every destroyed drive. Reconciled against the pickup manifest before destruction.

  • Witness Signatures

    Named-witness verification with printed names, signatures, dates, and times. Customer-witnessed at your facility or independent third-party witnessed at our destruction facility.

  • Insurance Certificate (on request)

    General liability and cyber liability coverage information for your records, audit team, or insurance broker.

  • NRC §73.22(d) SGI-Handling Memo

    Per-job Safeguards Information handling memo citing NRC 10 CFR §73.22(d) conformance, cleared-personnel-only handling, SGI flag chain-of-custody, and destruction operator access authorization. Required for SGI-bearing media destruction events.

CoD

Certificate of Destruction

Issued by Data Destruction Inc. within 24 hours of destruction

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you sign a non-disclosure agreement or contract before pickup?
Yes. Data Destruction Inc. signs an NDA or vertical-specific contract with every nuclear client before any pickup is scheduled. The document is delivered electronically within 4 business hours of quote acceptance and is countersigned before our truck is dispatched. Both parties retain the executed document for the full 10-year documentation retention period.

What does the Certificate of Destruction include for Nuclear audits?
The Certificate of Destruction includes six audit fields: asset serial numbers, destruction method used, date and time of destruction, named witness signature, operator and company identification, and chain-of-custody reference number. Each field is populated within 24 hours of destruction. The certificate format is built to satisfy auditor, regulator, and insurance documentation requirements.

Can a nuclear client witness the destruction?
Yes. Customer-witnessed destruction is available at your facility through our mobile shredding service, or you can send a representative to witness destruction at our facility. The witness signs the Certificate of Destruction with printed name, signature, and timestamp. Independent third-party witnessing is also available when required by your audit or insurance program.

What destruction methods do you use for nuclear media?
We use shredding for HDDs (≤25 mm particle size), shredding for SSDs and flash media (≤2 mm particle size), and degaussing followed by shredding for magnetic backup tapes. Each method maps to NIST SP 800-88 r1 Destroy category for the specific media type. The method used for each asset is recorded on the Certificate of Destruction.

Does your documentation satisfy an NRC Region cyber-security inspection?
Yes. Every Certificate of Destruction cites NRC 10 CFR §73.54 and §73.22(d) conformance, the destruction method per asset, and chain-of-custody reference. The format has been accepted in NRC Region cyber-security and Safeguards Information compliance inspections as objective evidence of disposal-program effectiveness for CDA-related and SGI-bearing media.

Can you destroy media inside the protected area boundary?
Yes. On-site mobile destruction inside the protected area boundary at commercial power reactors, fuel-cycle facilities, and DOE nuclear sites. Plant-system drives, security computer drives, and CDA-related media are destroyed before leaving the boundary. Armed-escort or owner-controlled-area exception authorization is documented on the chain of custody, with cleared technicians performing destruction.

How do you handle Safeguards Information (SGI) destruction?
SGI-bearing media is destroyed under 10 CFR §73.22(d) handling controls. Cleared-personnel-only handling, sealed-container manifests with SGI flag, destruction operators with appropriate access authorization, and an SGI-handling chain of custody documented end-to-end. The Certificate of Destruction includes a §73.22(d) conformance memo when SGI-bearing media is present in the job.

Can you handle a multi-year nuclear decommissioning project?
Yes. Decommissioning projects use our enterprise workflow: multi-day scheduling spanning months or years, palletized pickup with system-coded labels, per-system chain-of-custody manifests, and a master Certificate of Destruction with system-level line items. Past decommissioning projects have moved 8,000+ drives and 4,000+ tape cartridges with full NRC-aligned documentation across multi-year decommissioning windows.

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Bonded · Insured · 24-Hour Certificate of Destruction · Methods follow NIST SP 800-88 r1

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