Methodology for Performing Parallel Design Calculations (Nuclear Waste Repository Application)

摘要

In anticipation of the need to perform very high-quality design calculations for future defense high-level radioactive waste repositories in bedded salt, a methodology is proposed for the contractor selection, problem transmittal, computational quality control, and discrepancy resolution for parallel design calculations. Based on earlier findings that established the need to have at least two independent calculations of a problem to assure adequate results, a method was developed for obtaining controlled calculations. This methodology used technical monitors, peer reviews, and rigorously formal information exchange to achieve the controlled but technically independent blind solutions to the problems posed. The methodology was extensively tested through two (one heated and one unheated) well-defined boundary value problems. The report first describes the method and the details of achieving the necessary parts of the method. Then the results of the exercise involving the boundary value problem calculations are given together with the procedure of resolving the initially large discrepancies. (ERA citation 11:037624)