A user's guide to the GoldSim/BLT-MS integrated software package:a low-level radioactive waste disposal performance assessment model.

Abstract

Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia), a U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratory, has over 30 years experience in the assessment of radioactive waste disposal and at the time of this publication is providing assistance internationally in a number of areas relevant to the safety assessment of radioactive waste disposal systems. In countries with small radioactive waste programs, international technology transfer program efforts are often hampered by small budgets, schedule constraints, and a lack of experienced personnel. In an effort to surmount these difficulties, Sandia has developed a system that utilizes a combination of commercially available software codes and existing legacy codes for probabilistic safety assessment modeling that facilitates the technology transfer and maximizes limited available funding. Numerous codes developed and endorsed by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and codes developed and maintained by United States Department of Energy are generally available to foreign countries after addressing import/export control and copyright requirements. From a programmatic view, it is easier to utilize existing codes than to develop new codes. From an economic perspective, it is not possible for most countries with small radioactive waste disposal programs to maintain complex software, which meets the rigors of both domestic regulatory requirements and international peer review. Therefore, revitalization of deterministic legacy codes, as well as an adaptation of contemporary deterministic codes, provides a credible and solid computational platform for constructing probabilistic safety assessment models. This document is a reference users guide for the GoldSim/BLT-MS integrated modeling software package developed as part of a cooperative technology transfer project between Sandia National Laboratories and the Institute of Nuclear Energy Research (INER) in Taiwan for the preliminary assessment of several candidate low-level waste repository sites. Breach, Leach, and Transport-Multiple Species (BLT-MS) is a U.S. NRC sponsored code which simulates release and transport of contaminants from a subsurface low-level waste disposal facility. GoldSim is commercially available probabilistic software package that has radionuclide transport capabilities. The following report guides a user through the steps necessary to use the integrated model and presents a successful application of the paradigm of renewing legacy codes for contemporary application.