Kenneth Fletcher
WC Monitor
3/27/2015
A Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board review has found significant issues with the Department of Energy’s software used to determine radioactive transportation packages, according to a DNFSB report released late last week. The DNFSB staff identified deficiencies with oversight, maintenance and use of the software, called “Radcalc,”which is used across the complex. “These deficiencies could result in vulnerabilities in Radcalc’s calculation of decay heat, radioactivity, and/or hydrogen gas generation, which could result in serious consequences for workers and the public in the event of a transportation accident,” states a March 16 letter accompanying the report. “It is not clear to the Board how the risk associated with the use of Radcalc is being managed.”
Radcalc is a custom-developed program with 400 registered users, mainly radioactive material shippers, and classifies radioactive materials based on isotopic content, according to the DNFSB. It is managed by DOE’s Office of Transportation and Packaging. “DOE could not provide any evidence of federal oversight of these computer programs during the software’s lifetime,” the report states. “The staff review team determined there were multiple safety issues associated directly with the federal oversight of Radcalc and four additional safety issues that could affect other safety software.”
Other failures noted include problem reporting and corrective action, lack of assessments of the computer, failure to maintain software configuration change control, among others issues that “challenge the reasonable assurance of the reliability of Radcalc’s results,” according to the report. “In addition, this review identified potentially significant systemic concerns that could affect other safety software,” it states. The Board has requested a DOE report within 90 days documenting DOE federal oversight activities to date related to the software. DOE did not respond this week to request for comment.
