Interactive development of RADTRAN

Abstract

The RADTRAN computer code for transportation risk analysis, which has been under continuous development at Sandia National Laboratorios since 1977, has evolved fiom a purely research tool into a publicly available system with a variety of applications. This expansion of the user community has substantially increased the need to make the system easier to use without decreasing its capabilities or the quality of output, A large set of modifiable W T R A N input files has been available via "'RANSNET for several years. Orre approach to assisting the user invofves adding annotations/ information to each of these files. A second approach is providing additional help in building new/modifjring old hput files.Keeping the proposed informatiodannotation files separate from but closely coupled to the modifiable input files within the TRANSNET shell system allows the modifiable input files to remain as regular input files while providing rapid, automatic access to useful information about the analysis. Tn this way, the sample input files m a i n intact as regular RADIXAN input files and any files generated using associated on-line menus or editors may be readily converted into new input files. A single samplc fiIe is selected and used as an example to illustrate the prototype help features.

RADTRAN 6 technical manual.

“…Radioactive material released to the environment either falls to the ground or becomes airborne and is dispersed. Material that is airborne does not enter the food chain; it can be inhaled and the inhalation and cloudshine doses are calculated separately in RADTRAN (Neuhauser, et al, 2000;Weiner, et al, 2009). Material deposited on the ground can enter the food chain only if it is deposited on agricultural crops; other deposited material either remains on the surface or is resuspended and is weathered, covered, or dispersed with the passage of time.…”

“…The analyst now could carry out route-specific analyses by assigning route-segment-specific values for a number of parameters (population density, vehicle speed, traffic count, etc.). These route-specific capabilities were improved and expanded, and a number of features added, in RADTRAN 5 (Neuhauser, et al, 2000).…”

RadCat 3.0 user guide.

“…The dose is the weighted sum of the doses for railyard worker groups, and is calculated primarily with a line-source model, though a point-source model is used when appropriate. The classification dose to railyard workers for both common carrier and dedicated rail (Wooden, 1987, as described in Appendix B of Neuhauser, et al, 2000). This can be seen in Figure 32.…”

“…The main difference between the two options is the exposure of rail workers in rail yards. For dedicated rail, worker dose is calculated with factors b 8 through b 11 of Appendix B of the RADTRAN 5 Technical Manual (Neuhauser, et al, 2000). These parameter values are self-explanatory.…”

RADTRAN 5 user guide.

“…This check is most easily performed when data are entered in a spreadsheet, which is another reason why the use of spreadsheets is recommended for keeping tracking of the large amounts of data required by RADTRAN 5. The use of spreadsheets in building input files is discussed in Neuhauser et al (1995).…”