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

Reference Materials System: materials policy information system

Conference ·
OSTI ID:6073972
The social and economic development of a nation is dependent on a reliable supply of materials and energy and on the efficient utilization of these resources. Decision making in industry and the formulation of government policies require a comprehensive information base encompassing the technical, economic, and environmental factors involved in the flow of materials through production processes and the overall economy. The Reference Materials System (RMS) is a network description of the flow of materials from resource extraction through refinement, production, and transportation processes to the utilization, maintenance, and recycling operations. The system has been employed for the assessment of material production technologies and for the evaluation of substitution possibilities. The RMS provides a framework for integrating engineering and economic information into a comprehensive systems framework. The network flow diagram is quantified in terms of the mass flow of all renewable and nonrenewable materials on an annual basis through each step of the system. A variety of data elements including capital and labor requirements may be organized in this framework to provide a Materials Policy Data Base. This process description of the materials system may also be coupled with economic policy models of the input--output or econometric variety to ensure proper analysis of the role of materials in the overall economy.
Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (USA); Mathtech, Inc., Princeton, NJ (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
EY-76-C-02-0016
OSTI ID:
6073972
Report Number(s):
BNL-26446; CONF-790754-1
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English