Risk management for operations of the LANL Critical Experiments Facility
Journal Article
·
· Transactions of the American Nuclear Society
OSTI ID:298319
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
The Los Alamos Critical Experiments Facility (LACEF) currently operates two burst reactors (Godiva-IV and Skua), one solution assembly [the Solution High-Energy Burst Assembly (SHEBA)], two fast-spectrum benchmark assemblies (Flattop and Big Ten), and five general-purpose remote assembly machines that may be configured with nuclear materials and assembled by remote control. Special nuclear materials storage vaults support these and other operations at the site. With this diverse set of operations, several approaches are possible in the analysis and management of risk. The most conservative approach would be to write a safety analysis report (SAR) for each assembly and experiment. A more cost-effective approach is to analyze the probability and consequences of several classes of operations representative of operations on each critical assembly machine and envelope the bounding case accidents. Although the neutron physics of these machines varies widely, the operations performed at LACEF fall into four operational modes: steady-state mode, approach-to-critical mode, prompt burst mode, and nuclear material operations, which can include critical assembly fuel loading. The operational sequences of each mode are very nearly identical, whether operated on one assembly machine or another. The use of an envelope approach to accident analysis is facilitated by the use of classes of operations and the use of bounding case consequence analysis. A simple fault tree analysis of operational modes helps resolve which operations are sensitive to human error and which are initiated by hardware of software failures. Where possible, these errors and failures are blocked by TSR LCOs. Future work will determine the probability of accidents with various initiators.
- OSTI ID:
- 298319
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-981106--
- Journal Information:
- Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society Vol. 79; ISSN 0003-018X; ISSN TANSAO
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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