Thu, Nov 16
|AnShu Asian Cafe
Fall Dinner Meeting
Please join us for an evening of good food, great conversation, and an interesting talk.
Time & Location
Nov 16, 2017, 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
AnShu Asian Cafe, 122 Coach Light Way SW, Aiken, SC 29803, USA
About the event
SRS Expands Modeling and Simulation Capabilities to Maximize Production
Nick Miller
Abstract
The Savannah River Site has moved to dramatically increase the efficiency of its production facilities through expanded modeling and simulation capabilities, allowing operations to evaluate the impact of changes such as increased staff or facility configuration modifications before they are physically implemented.
Modeling and Simulation is used in many industries, from pharmaceutical to defense contracting, to develop simulations of various processes to develop data as a basis for managerial or technical decision making.
The site’s HB-Line facility, the only chemical processing facility of its kind in the Department of Energy (DOE) Complex that has been operated to support various missions from NNSA deep space exploration to Nuclear non-proliferation, was the first to implement the modeling capability. Models for sister facilities on-site are underway, with the expectation that within the next 12 to 24 months the site will have an integrated system model for all its production facilities.
What ultimately is the Modeling and Simulation value proposition? Having the capability to ask ‘What if?’ well in advance of actually taking any action is a tremendous advantage. Examples of benefits include enabling optimization of personnel resourcing, pin-pointing inefficiencies and bottle necks such as equipment limitations and security constraints, validating process opportunities such as effectiveness of parallel plant operations, and allowing for a better understand of equipment outage impacts to overall production commitments. What plant utilization do I need for my process? What are my chokepoints? Where is the plant most vulnerable with respect to equipment and resources? These are just some of the questions advanced modeling and simulation can help answer.
Specifically, for the HB-Line Facility, a software model was constructed to duplicate the HB Line plutonium processing system and track and trend material through each of the different processing steps. These steps include repacking into dissolvable cans, dissolution in H Canyon, purification in anion exchange, precipitation, conversion to an oxide product, and packaging and shipping the product. Benefits realized include a much more accurate throughput estimate for plant capabilities, as well as having understanding of the impacts of major political and operational changes proposed for the facility within minutes.
