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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Modification of the MACCS consequence code

Conference ·
OSTI ID:10177720
 [1];  [2]
  1. Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
  2. Technadyne Engineering Consultants, Albuquerque, NM (United States)

This report discusses the MACCS code was originally developed under US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) sponsorship to estimate the offsite consequences of potential severe accidents at nuclear power plants using meteorological data that varies on an hourly basis. The code models the transport and dispersion of plumes of radioactive material released from the facility to the atmosphere. Although MACCS was intended for nuclear power plant applications, it is now widely used at DOE facilities for safety assessments of a highly diverse nature. A principal limitation of the code in these applications is the set of radionuclides which may be considered. To assess consequences from non-reactor facilities (e.g., fusion and accelerator facilities) the MACCS code is currently undergoing development to expand its capabilities with the primary modification being the expansion of the radionuclide set to include short-lived fission products and activation products. With this improvement, MACCS will be capable of estimating the consequences from a large variety of facilities. In addition, a more sophisticated and flexible ingestion pathway model is being incorporated into the code.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-76DP00789
OSTI ID:
10177720
Report Number(s):
SAND--92-1725C; CONF-9208117--10; ON: DE92040269
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English