System Analysis Tools
tools allow the interdependencies between various system elements to be understood. IWM’s tools can be used to inform overall system planning and guide future research. While current work has focused on commercial SNF, the tool set could be expanded to include DOE-owned SNF and HLW packages in the future. Through its models, DOE seeks to develop a complete analysis system for SNF and HLW from the time it is discharged from a reactor to the time of disposal (DOE-NE 2017b).
DOE employs several system analysis tools in support of its transportation planning activities. Within DOE-NE’s Office of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition, the IWM supported the development of tools for applying systems analysis, systems engineering, and decision analysis principles to evaluate various configurations of an integrated waste management system. DOE-NE has provided opportunities for stakeholder input on its models and tools and held workshops for attendees to both understand and utilize model capabilities. IWM system analysis considers the components of the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle –specifically transportation, storage, and disposal. This effort is intended to provide a solid basis for future decisions related to deploying spent fuel management strategies. Advanced analytical tools and models are being developed to perform analyses associated with future deployment of a comprehensive system for managing nuclear waste. IWM tools include the Execution Strategy Analysis (ESA) tool; the Used Nuclear Fuel — Storage, Transportation & Disposal Analysis and Resource Data System (UNF-ST&DARDS); and the START. These
STAKEHOLDER TOOL FOR ASSESSING RADIOACTIVE TRANSPORT (START)
DOE-NE developed analysis capabilities for transportation routing through START, which is a web-based geographic information system used for evaluating routing options for the transport of SNF and HLW. DOE had previously used Transportation Routing Analysis Geographic Information System (TRAGIS) to generate primary and alternate routes by truck, train, or barge, but that tool provided only limited data on route characteristics for comparing routes. The states have long articulated the need for a tool with which to analyze data on shipment numbers, modes, routes, and route characteristics and assess the impacts of DOE’s SNF shipments (Janairo and Bailey 2010). START enables users to apply more than 50 data layers relevant to radioactive materials transportation planning including modal options, transportation infrastructure conditions, and emergency response assets. The tool allows for the evaluation of possible transportation routes by highway, rail, waterway, or multiple modes, and incorporates imagery from facility site visits. Currently START is designated “official use only” and, therefore, is available only for government use. Access has been granted to stakeholders in DOE’s transportation planning efforts with approval from DOE; the intended users of START include federal, state, tribal, and local government officials, utilities, transportation carriers, and support contractors. Anyone without a government email address must apply to be granted access to the tool (Abkowitz 2017). States and Tribes have used START to explore potential routing options from the nation’s commercial nuclear plants to potential storage and disposal destinations. While START is intended to be used for evaluating routes for DOE shipments, it is also useful for states and Tribes that want to assess routes to potential private storage facilities. The data layers in START allow users to select routes that meet specific criteria, such as minimizing travel time, avoiding population centers, or prioritizing transit along routes in close proximity to trained first responders (NWTRB 2019). As discussed in the section on Route Selection , in the summer of 2017, IWM convened a workshop for the R/R AHWG to bring together state and Tribal personnel with rail carrier industry representatives and representatives from DOE and the FRA to evaluate potential approaches to route identification. Participants used START to generate and evaluate the sample routes discussed at the workshop (Bickford et al. 2019).
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