A Decision Analysis Tool to Support Planning and Decision-Making for Sustainable, Deployment-Oriented Research, Development and Demonstration (RD and D) of Advanced Nuclear Energy Technologies - 14282

The long time frames and large investments required for driving transformational nuclear energy technology from research and development, through demonstration, to readiness for commercial deployment call for a structured, documented, auditable decision analysis framework; one that supports review, revision, and reprioritization as external conditions, knowledge, and assumptions change. EPRI is developing such a decision analysis framework, to address these needs for its own research and development activities and for use by other stakeholders in their own applications and roles. In its most general form, the EPRI Decision Analysis Framework provides a structured, phased approach to evaluating or comparing nuclear fuel cycle options based on the level of detail desired and the amount of information available. Application of the Framework has been demonstrated in recent reports and conference papers, albeit in the form of a generalizable guideline. Vanderbilt University is now integrating the EPRI Decision Analysis Framework with commercially available decision analysis software, which substantially increases the utility of the EPRI Framework for a broad set of potential users with a user-friendly graphical user interface, a standardized multi-criteria decision analysis method (analytic hierarchy process, or AHP), and intuitive, adaptable graphical output for tailoring result reporting for a diverse set of stakeholders. (authors)