Student team designed
Students in Information System and Technology Division (IST) have designed a new software application, called the Waste Compliance and Tracking System (WCATS), which is designed to support all aspects of transuranic waste management. It is driven by the transuranic waste certification requirements of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP.
The new system also complies with hazardous waste regulations, nuclear material control and accountability requirements, shipping regulations, and internal process and quality control requirements.
The student work force behind the project includes high school cooperative education, undergraduate, and graduate level students. In all, fourteen students have contributed to the project.
According to Project Leader Justin Tozer of Control, Inventory, and Configuration Applications (IST-APPS3), WCATS is the replacement for the existing Waste Management System and Calibrations Tracking System applications. These applications were developed more than a decade ago using tools and platforms that are now antiquated.
“The system is capable of managing waste from its point of generation to its ultimate disposal,” Henry Talachy of IST-APPS3, one of the undergraduates participating in the project, said.
“Working on this project is an extraordinary experience for me. I have gained an abundant amount of knowledge about how complex systems are executed and the business logic that accompanies them. The level of understanding I have would not be possible without the help from my co-workers,” Talachy said.
The system brings substantial new functionality to waste management personnel including:
(a) Mobile waste characterization using personal digital assistants (PDA).
(b) Improved support for managing nuclear material and hazardous waste storage areas.
(c) An extensible architecture that allows for new functionality as requirements change.
(d) Support for managing liquids in tank systems.
(e) Instrumented limits, and much more.
According to Tozer, two of the three staff members on the project, Mike Brake and Keith Russell, came to Los Alamos as student interns, and subsequently converted to staff members. Brake graduated from Columbia College in Missouri with a bachelor’s degree in computer science, and Russell graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with a master’s degree also in computer science.
All of the students who helped design WCATS participated in the Lab’s annual Student Symposium; one received the Best Computer Science Presentation Award, and one received a graduate student distinguished service award.
