Computational environment and software configuration management of the 1996 performance assessment for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
- Sandia National Laboratories
The US Department of Energy (DOE) Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), located in southeast New Mexico, is a deep geologic repository for the permanent disposal of transuranic waste generated by DOE defense-related activities. Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), in its role as scientific advisor to the DOE, is responsible for evaluating the long-term performance of the WIPP. This risk-based Performance Assessment (PA) is accomplished in part through the use of numerous scientific modeling codes, which rely for some of their inputs on data gathered during characterization of the site. The PA is subject to formal requirements set forth in federal regulations. In particular, the components of the calculation fall under the configuration management and software quality assurance aegis of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Nuclear Quality Assurance (NQA) requirements. This paper describes SNL's implementation of the NQA requirements regarding configuration management. The complexity of the PA calculation is described, and the rationale for developing a flexible, robust run-control process is discussed. The run-control implementation is described, and its integration with the configuration-management system is then explained, to show how a calculation requiring 37,000 CPU-hours, and involving 225,000 output files totaling 95 Gigabytes, was accomplished in 5 months by 2 individuals, with full traceability and reproducibility.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (US); Sandia National Labs., Livermore, CA (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 755542
- Report Number(s):
- SAND99-2641J
- Journal Information:
- Reliability Engineering and Safety Safety (Special Journal Issue), Journal Name: Reliability Engineering and Safety Safety (Special Journal Issue)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
COMPUTER CALCULATIONS
COMPUTER CODES
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT
PERFORMANCE
PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT
QUALITY ASSURANCE
RADIOACTIVE WASTE
RELIABILITY
REPRODUCIBILITY
RISK ASSESSMENT
RUN CONTROL
RUN MANAGEMENT
TRACEABILITY
TRANSURANIC WASTE
WASTE ISOLATION PILOT PLANT
WIPP