Jc. Helton et al., PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT FOR THE WASTE ISOLATION PILOT-PLANT - FROM REGULATION TO CALCULATION FOR 40-CFR-191.13, Operations research, 45(2), 1997, pp. 157-177
Citations number
57
Categorie Soggetti
Management,"Operatione Research & Management Science","Operatione Research & Management Science
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is being developed by the U.S.
Department of Energy as a disposal facility for transuranic waste and
must comply with several environmental regulations, including the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency's standard for geologic disposal of r
adioactive waste (40 CFR 191). Procedures used in recent performance a
ssessments for the WIPP to translate regulations into a structure that
facilitates quantitative analysis we described. Topics considered inc
lude (I) development of a clear conceptual representation for problems
that are initially ill-defined, (2) conversion of qualitative guidanc
e into numerical calculations, (3) explicit incorporation of different
types of uncertainty (i.e., aleatory and epistemic) into analysis out
comes, (4) requirements for efficient computation and models at differ
ent levels of complexity, (5) use of sensitivity analysis to guide add
itional data collection and future calculations, (6) requirements for
results to be presented and explained to audiences with different inte
rests and levels of sophistication, and (7) ambiguity with respect to
final uses of the analysis and its outcomes. The need to address simil
ar concepts and problems arises in many analyses.