Safety Software Quality Assurance - Central Registry
A significant improvement to the safety
software at the Department of Energy (DOE)
nuclear facilities was achieved with the
development and maintenance of a collection, or
"toolbox, "of high-use safety software codes.
The toolbox codes are compliant with the DOE
Safety Software Quality Assurance (SSQA)
requirements of DOE O 414.1C and its guidance,
DOE G 414.1-4. The toolbox codes are routinely
used by DOE to perform calculations and develop
data used to establish the safety basis for DOE
facilities and their operation, and to support
the variety of safety analyses and safety
evaluations developed for these facilities. The
collection of toolbox codes is referred to as
the DOE Safety Software Central Registry.
Code |
Version |
Owner |
ALOHA |
V5.2.3 |
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) |
CFAST |
V3.1.7 and 5.0.1 |
National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST). |
EPIcode |
V7.0 |
Homann Associates, Inc. |
GENII |
Version 2.0 is being tested by EPA and
NRC. |
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
(PNNL) |
IMBA |
IMBA Expert ™ USDOE Edition version
4.0.28 |
UK Health Protection Agency (HPA) |
MACCS2 |
V1.13.1 |
Sandia National Laboratory (SNL) |
MELCOR |
|
Sandia National Laboratory (SNL) |
Hotspot |
TBD |
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
(LLNL) |
The Central Registry currently contains
software versions for 7 toolbox codes ALOHA,
CFAST,
EPICODE,
GENII,
IMBA,
MACCS2, and
MELCOR. An additional code,
Hotspot, is in the process of implementing
recommendations for inclusion into the Central
Registry. Prior to inclusion into the Central
Registry an evaluation, referred to as a gap
analysis, of each code is conducted to identify
any "gaps" between the SQA practices and DOE's
requirements and criteria for safety software.
Code-specific guidance reports were also
developed to identify applicable regimes in
accident analysis, default inputs, and special
conditions for using the toolbox codes for DOE
applications. These documents as well as general
information are available through the links
provided above.
While DOE has established the Central Registry and includes codes into this
virtual registry, most were developed outside of DOE (e.g., in the private
sector or other Federal agencies). Access to the toolbox codes or their use is
subject to agreements, conditions and restrictions established by the code
owners or Federal agencies.
The Chief Health, Safety and Security Officer
(HS-1) is responsible for managing the Safety
Software Central Registry. However, the toolbox
code owners are responsible for ensuring that
the codes are maintained in accordance with
established requirements. DOE works closely with
the code owners to ensure that adequate
technical support and training are available.
Although use of the Central Registry toolbox codes is not mandatory, using
the codes offer a number of advantages to the DOE and its contractors. These
advantages include: 1) the gap analysis evaluation performed provides valuable
information as to the quality of the code, 2) the evaluation extends beyond the
DOE SSQA criteria to review the code's capability to properly perform safety
basis calculations, 3) DOE-specific guidance document that identifies
limitations and vulnerabilities not readily found in other code documentation is
available, 4) assessments by the field federal and contractor of the toolbox
code may be reduced in scope, and 5) continual monitoring and communication to
DOE users of new code features and resolutions to defects important to DOE.
DOE also conducted a
survey of design codes currently in use across DOE to determine if any
should be included in the Safety Software Central Registry. No additional codes
were identified for inclusion. A two-volume report (Volume
1;
Volume 2) describes the process and identifies the codes evaluated.
For more information on the Central Registry
contact
Subir Sen.
This page was last updated on March 11, 2009
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