SAPHIRE's current “state of practice” to meet PRA demands

Systems Analysis Programs for Hands-on Integrated Reliability Evaluations (SAPHIRE) is a software tool developed for use on a personal computer (PC) to perform complete probabilistic risk assessments (PRA). SAPHIRE Version 8 is funded by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and developed by the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). SAPHIRE is used to model complex systems or processes using fault tree analysis or event tree accident sequence analysis. For nuclear power plant applications, SAPHIRE 8 solves both Level 1 and Level 2 PRAs to provide different risk metrics. Some of these risk metrics are core damage frequency, importance measure, uncertainty results and important contributors, i.e., dominant contributor. Features have been added to SAPHIRE to perform external event analysis, e.g., fire and seismic along with managing data inputs and outputs. As PRA models grow in complexity, software tools have to grow also, to handle these complexities. This paper will cover some of the “State of Practice” that has been developed into SAPHIRE to meet these new challenges. This paper will also cover some of the hidden gems that make creating result tables and other outputs a one click option. SAPHIRE like all PRA software programs must keep evolving to meet these demands. With faster computers and the need for refined evaluations, PRA software is being challenged to meet these needs.