Tom McLaughlin & Shean Monahan
Los Alamos National Laboratory

1.0 IH CM point

The course will cover an overview of requirements for Authorization Basis Consequence Analyses, applicable methods, computer model evaluation, "best practices," and sample analyses. This course will cover all criticality related issues that should be addressed in HAs and SARs. These include differences that may exist for facilities and operations with short lifetimes compared to those with extended lifetimes. Topics to be covered are:
1) determining operation- and facility-specific source terms versus using handbook values;
2) a review of historical papers on source term magnitudes;
3) available data from which one can accurately estimate source term magnitudes in solutions;
4) what to do about source term magnitudes when no relevant data exists - computer codes;
5) knowledge available from past criticality accidents;
6) determination of criticality alarm system detector placement, and neutron vs. gamma sensing;
7) regulations: DOE Orders, Standards, Handbooks, NRC Regulatory Guides and related documents, American National Standards, and International Standards. Evaluating consequences such as lethal radii for nearby workers and estimation of the dose rate at the muster location will be covered, but the transport of fission product plumes will not be explored in detail. Issues of who generates and who reviews the criticality parts of HAs and SARs - line personnel, the safety analyst, the criticality specialist, an outside consulting firm—and the implications on cost, quality, etc. will be discussed based on actual experiences.