Use of personal computers in spent nuclear fuel waste management

In May 1984, the US Department of Energy issued the Program Research and Development Announcement (PRDA) for a nuclear waste packaging and handling design initiative. In response to this PRDA, Westinghouse is evaluating several cask systems designed to manage spent nuclear fuel from the reactors to the repositories. A cask system is defined as the collection of components necessary to transport and store all spent nuclear fuel generated in the US. Consequently, a system of casks must include rail and trucks casks, storage casks, emplacement casks or packages, and, where applicable, shielding overpacks. Of primary interest in the comparison of these cask systems is the economic impact of the various cask concepts on the total cost of spent nuclear fuel waste management. The evaluation of alternative systems to manage spent nuclear fuel from the reactors to the repositories led to the development of the PRDA Economic Analysis Program (PEAP) and the use of interactive software for a personal computer. The development and use of PEAP have shown that a personal computer can be used as a tool to model and study complex situations such as the spent nuclear fuel waste management system