Quintessa-online is a new venture. In order to demonstrate the type of online modelling applications that could be developed, we have developed a simple example.

If you have requests/suggestions for future online applications, please contact us. The Wham! (Web-Hosted AMBER model) model simulates the transport of radionuclides released from a near-surface repository (a vault) resulting from the infiltration of rainwater into the repository. Contaminants are leached from the vault into the unsaturated zone and then into an underlying aquifer. They are then transported through the aquifer to a well from which water is abstracted for human use.

The Wham! model is based upon (but is not a direct replication of) the hypothetical Vault Test Case developed as part of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Co-ordinated Research Project (CRP) on Improvement of Safety Assessment Methodologies for Near Surface Disposal Facilities (ISAM).

The Wham! model uses the AMBER compartmental modelling tool, developed and supported by Quintessa and Enviros.

Wham! has a choice of two graphical user interfaces (GUIs), designed to accomodate a wider range of potential users. Wham! automatically generates a web-based modelling report, and can optionally create a PDF format report when the simulation has completed.

Users can alter input paramater values in the Wham! model to see how they affect the calcuated radiation doses from a variety of pathways. In the basic version of the GUI, the user is restrivted to a range of predefined parameter values. The advanced version of the GUI offers the user more flexibility in the choice of inputs.

For more details and to run Wham!, click here. An important area of mathematical modelling is the analysis of the long-term behaviour of hazardous materials in the environment. Modelling allows the potentially harmful effects to people and the environment to be evaluated before they occur, allowing the hazardous material to be managed more safely.

Radioactive waste is one of the most important hazardous materials that need to be managed. Key inputs into decision-making for radioactive waste are assessments of potential future hazards (’performance assessments’). However, these can be very technical and opaque to the general public.

The SafetyNet example is a simple example of a performance assessment model that represents radioactive wastes in a near-surface repository. Although such models are very much more complicated, it captures some of the main pathways by which radionuclides can travel into the environment and represents the main features - the repository, the rock in which it is built, and environmental media like rivers, soil and plants.

Users can change characteristics to see how they affect the calculated radiation dose to a hypothetical person farming the contaminated land. This can help those unfamiliar with performance assessments to get a better understanding of the principles, as well as identifying key characteristics of the repository and the environment.

For more details and to run SafetyNet, click here.