DEVELOPMENT OF DATA-FREE-WAY DISTRIBUTED DATABASE SYSTEM FOR ADVANCEDNUCLEAR-MATERIALS

A distributed database system named ''Data-Free-Way (DFW)'' is under d evelopment by a cooperation among three Japanese national research org anizations to support the creation of advanced nuclear materials. The development of DFW started in 1990 as a five-year program with a suppo rt from Science and Technology Agency of Japan. Before starting the pr ogram, a preliminary survey of both domestic and foreign databases of nuclear materials had been made for two years. Then, subjects for the construction of DFW were extracted. To meet the subjects, the developm ent and construction programs were established. The DFW is constructed on the computer network which connects engineering workstations in th e separate organizations. A relational database management system is u sed, a distributed material database is equipped on the hardware with specially designed common data structure. Data storage has been carrie d out continuously in each organization. The equipment of useful user- interface systems, such as retrieval, data entry and process supportin g and image data handling systems, have also been constructed to make it friendly for users. The collection of nuclear material data from th ree research organizations and its mutual usage have become possible b y the construction of DFW.