April 1997

Radiation Safety Information Computational Center

Clocks will go as they are set; but man, irregular man, is never constant, never certain.--Otway

On March 20, 1997, officials for the Office of Atomic Energy for Peace in Thailand and representatives for the U.S. Department of Energy and Oak Ridge National Laboratory met to initial an agreement between the two laboratories for the exchange of technical information and cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy in Thailand. With the help of ORNL expertise, Thailand will develop commercial nuclear energy for the rapidly developing country.

Participants in the March 20 signing ceremony between the OAEP and ORNL. Front row: Martha Kass, DOE-Oak Ridge Operations, Acting Manager for ORNL; Frances Keel and Beth Lisann, DOE-HQ; Bernadette Kirk, Director, Radiation Safety Information Computational Center, ORNL; Poonsuk Pongpat, Director of Health Physics, Office of Atomic Energy for Peace, Thailand; Jabo Tang, Computational Physics and Engineering Division (CPED), ORNL. Middle row: Nancv Gray, Protocol Officer, ORNL; Kriengsak Bhadrakom, Secretary-General, OAEP; Apachai Chvajarernpun, Minister-Counsellor (Science and Technology), Royal Thai Embassy; Ed Oliver, Associate Director for Computing, Robotics, and Education, ORNL. Back row: Dan Ingersoll, Section Head, Nuclear Analysis and Shielding, CPED, ORNL; David Moses, Senior Program Manager for Nuclear Programs, ORNL; Glen Cada, Environmental Sciences Division, ORNL; Trent Primm, Development Staff, CPED, ORNL.

An electronic notebook has been added to the RSICC web site for users to record their experiences with our packages. We hope users will share experiences and tips via the notebook. Send suggestions to <pdc@ornl.gov> with "electronic notebook" for a subject. Please include your name and email address in any entries you create. Access is through http://www-rsicc.ornl.gov/rsic.html; choose "Software," then choose "Share User Experience."

Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois, contributed a newly frozen version of this code system to calculate site-specific residual radioactive material guidelines and radiation dose and excess cancer risk to an on-site resident. In this update, both RESRAD 5.70 and RESRAD-BUILD 2.11 were added to the package. RESRAD 5.61 was unchanged and is still included.

Version 5.7 requires a Windows operating system and is compatible with Windows95, WindowsNT, or Windows 3.1. Many enhancements are included. The major change from the DOS version is the inclusion of several methods to access the data. In addition to the standard menus, data input screens can now be accessed through the graphical "buttons" on the button bars. Most screens also have their own "short-cut" key for quick, direct access. Finally, two graphical interfaces allow access to data. A pathways graphic displays the pathway schematic and allows access to the source data and dose factor libraries. A second graphic provides a cross section of the current soil strata data. The greatest difference in inputting data is with the radionuclide-dependent distribution coefficients.

RESRAD-BUILD Version 2.11 is a pathway analysis model designed to evaluate the potential radiological dose incurred by an individual who works or lives in a building contaminated with radioactive material. The radioactive material in the building structure can be released into the indoor air by diffusion (radon gas), mechanical removal (decontamination activities), or erosion (removable surface contamination).

The Lahey F77L3/EM-32 and Microsoft Visual Basic compilers were used to create most RESRAD executables included in the package. The RESPLOT executable was created with Lahey and MicroGlyph SCIPLOT 5.0. The RESRAD 5.61 executables run under DOS or in a DOS window of Windows95. The new RESRAD 5.7 and RESRAD-BUILD executables run under Windows 3.1, Windows95 and Windows NT 4.0. Note that the source files are not included. The package is distributed on six DS/HD 3.5-in. (1.44 MB) diskettes in self-extracting compressed DOS files. Reference: ANL/EAD/LD-2 (Sept. 1993) and ANL/EAIS-8 (April 1993), ANL/EAD/LD-3 (Nov. 1994). Fortran 77 and BASIC; PC 386 or 486 (C00552/PC386/04).

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, contributed a newly frozen version of this coupled neutron-photon, three-dimensional, combinatorial geometry, Monte Carlo transport code system. TART96 calculates static reactivity problems, dynamic reactivity problems, and source problems involving any combination of neutron and/or photon sources.

The package includes both ENDL and ENDF/B-VI data as well as several auxiliary codes--TARTCHEK, EPICSHOW, PLOTTAB--and utility programs. TART96 completely supercedes all older versions of TART, and the developer strongly recommends that all users acquire the most recent version and its data files.

This is a complete system to assist with input preparation, running Monte Carlo calculations, and analysis of output results. TART96, which runs most modern computers, was tested on Cray, IBM RS/6000, HP, Sun, and DEC Alpha under Unix operating systems. It also runs on PCs and Power MAC. It is written in 100% Fortran 77. A Fortran 77 compiler is required for Unix systems, and executables are included for PC and Power MAC. The package is transmitted on a CD-ROM, which can be read on most modern computers. References: UCRL-ID-126455 (Nov. 1996). Fortran 77; Many Computers (C00638/MNYCP/01).

Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico, contributed this newly frozen version of the MELCOR Accident Consequence Code System designated MACCS2. Publicly distributed since 1987, MACCS was developed to estimate the potential impacts to the surrounding public of severe accidents at nuclear power plants. The principal phenomena considered in MACCS are atmospheric transport and deposition under time-variant meteorology, short-term and long-term mitigative actions and exposure pathways, deterministic and stochastic health effects, and economic costs of mitigative actions. At this time, no other publicly available code in the United States offers all these capabilities. MACCS2 represents a major enhancement of the capabilities of MACCS. MACCS2 was developed as a general-purpose analytical tool applicable to diverse reactor and non-reactor U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) facilities. The MACCS2 package includes three primary enhancements: (1) a more flexible emergency response model, (2) an expanded library of radionuclides, and (3) a semi-dynamic food-chain model. The new code features allow detailed evaluations of risks to workers at nearby facilities on large DOE reservations and allow the user to assess the potential impacts of over 700 radionuclides that cannot be considered with MACCS. The package includes several auxiliary codes:

DOSFAC2: NRC dose conversion factor (DCF) preprocessor.

FGRDCF: DCF preprocessor based on the DCF databases of Federal Guidance Reports 11 and 12 from ORNL (DLC-172).

IDCF2: DCF preprocessor based on the IDCF code developed at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory.

COMIDA2: Food pathway preprocessor based on the COMIDA food pathway preprocessor developed at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (PSR-343).

MACCS2 runs on IBM compatible 80486 or Pentium PC with 8 MB of RAM under DOS, Windows95 or WindowsNT. The Lahey F77L3/EM-32 Version 5.2 compiler was used to create the executables included in the package, which is transmitted on nine 1.44 MB 3.5-in. DOS formatted diskettes in self-extracting archive files. References: SAND97-0594 (March 1997). Fortran 77, PC based 80486 or Pentium processor (C00652/PC486/00).