A COMPUTERIZED TOOL FOR PREDICTING NUCLEAR MATERIALS USAGE AND RESOURCE UTILIZATION IN PRODUCTION PROCESSES

摘要

The UK Ministry of Defence in collaboration with AWE Aldermaston developed a spreadsheet toassist in planning nuclear materials inventories to support production programs. The spreadsheettracks recovery of materials from service returns and materials recycle through nuclear materialsproduction processes and forecasts future nuclear materials needs. The spreadsheet lends itself to“what-if” analyses for materials supplies, program modifications, and operational configurationscenarios. Calculations are based on input feed stocks, process efficiencies, and the resultinginventories for different materials. The nuclear materials management organization at Los AlamosNational Laboratory adopted the spreadsheet to supplement analysis tools for nuclear materialsusage predictions. The forecasting tools currently being used are structured to predict materialsmovements throughout the weapons complex and not necessarily usage in production. Upgrades tothe spreadsheet to enhance functionality are the incorporation of material movements throughprocess exchanges and the introduction of personnel and instrument resources. The modifiedspreadsheet is modeled after the process accountability flow diagrams used by Los Alamos todefine material flows through individual production processes. This approach enables materialsmanagement personnel to predict not only materials usage and accumulation, but also the utilizationof non-destructive assay and analytical chemistry resources.