Performance Assessment Community of Practice - 10468

The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) Performance Assessment (PA) Community of Practice (CoP) has been chartered to advise the Tank Waste Corporate Board regarding PAs and PA-like analyses, promote consistency in the preparation of PAs across the Department of Energy complex, to foster exchange of information among PA practitioners, and to develop appropriate guidance for PAs such that they are based on sound science and are defensible. The CoP is jointly chaired by representatives from the DOE Office of Waste Processing (EM-31) and the DOE Office of Environmental Compliance (EM-41). The inaugural event for the PA CoP was a technical exchange on “Modeling the Performance of Engineered Systems for Closure and Near-Surface Disposal” held on July 13-14, 2009 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The technical exchange was attended by roughly 75 people, including representatives from National Laboratories, contactors, DOE Field Offices and Headquarters, the US NRC, Academia, regulators and international experts. Experts from WIPP and the Yucca Mountain project also provided presentations to provide perspective from those programs. A number of potential activities have been identified, including future technical exchanges and other activities targeting specific technical topics.