Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Tailored model abstraction in performance assessments

Conference ·
OSTI ID:127150
 [1]
  1. Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, CA (United States)

Total System Performance Assessments (TSPAs) are likely to be one of the most significant parts of making safety cases for the continued development and licensing of geologic repositories for the disposal of spent fuel and HLW. Thus, it is critical that the TSPA model capture the `essence` of the physical processes relevant to demonstrating the appropriate regulation is met. But how much detail about the physical processes must be modeled and understood before there is enough confidence that the appropriate essence has been captured? In this summary the level of model abstraction that is required is discussed. Approaches for subsystem and total system performance analyses are outlined, and the role of best estimate models is examined. It is concluded that a conservative approach for repository performance, based on limited amount of field and laboratory data, can provide sufficient confidence for a regulatory decision.

OSTI ID:
127150
Report Number(s):
CONF-9504179--
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English