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The licensing and use of RELAP5-3D is comprised of two separate steps. Licensing occurs first and is accomplished via licensing agreement discussions between the organization requesting a RELAP5-3D license and the INL Technology Deployment office. The principal contact from the Technology Deployment office is the Agreements Administrator. This individual can explain the licensing process, answer questions, and provides details on required additional information. An organization interested in obtaining a RELAP5-3D license makes their request via the INL Nuclear Computational Resource Center (NCRC) website ( https://inl.gov/ncrc/ ).

The NCRC website is designed to be a hub for INL engineering software. To apply for a RELAP5-3D license, an organization should identify a Technical Point of Contact (TPOC) for their license. This TPOC will register on NCRC for a High-Performance Computing (HPC) account with the RELAP5-3D Program Manager as their HPC account sponsor. An HPC account is NCRC’s current user management system and the TPOC does not have to use the HPC account. After receiving account information, the TPOC logs into NCRC and requests the RELAP5-3D software. The Agreements Administrator will contact the TPOC to begin the licensing process.

A RELAP5-3D license is based on a standard license agreement, which will be provided by the Agreements Administrator. The requesting organization can accept this standard license agreement and an invoice for the RELAP5-3D license will be provided for payment. Once payment is processed, a RELAP5-3D license is provided to the requesting organization. Should the requesting organization desire a customized license agreement, they will iterate on the license agreement with the INL Technology Deployment office and forward the final license agreement to both the INL’s and the requesting organization’s legal office for concurrence. With concurrence, an invoice is provided to the requesting organization.  Since iterations with the INL Technology Deployment office and legal reviews are required for customized license agreements, these agreements require the longest processing time and the requesting organization is recommended to plan accordingly. Figure 1 shows a flow chart of the licensing process.

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Figure 1: Overview of the RELAP5-3D Licensing Process.


After an organization receives a RELAP5-3D license, it can add its TPOC and intended RELAP5-3D users to its license. All individuals at the organization that will use RELAP5-3D are required to be added to the license. New users can be added at any time using NCRC. An organization user applies for an HPC account on NCRC with the RELAP5-3D Program Manager as their HPC account sponsor. When provided HPC account credentials, the user signs on and requests RELAP5-3D access based on their organization’s RELAP5-3D license. An organization’s RELAP5-3D user can only request access for themselves.  

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) designated RELAP5-3D as a 10 CFR 810 code, which means reviews are required to ensure that code access is provided to approved countries. Accordingly, DOE specifies the Personal Identifiable Information (PII) that is required for its export control review. Failure to provide the requested PII can significantly delay a new user’s approval since NCRC has to contact them for the additional information and the review process stops until that additional information is received. 

Independent of the export control review, but still a fulfillment of the DOE 10 CFR 810 requirement, an INL Code Oversight Group (COG) comprised of subject matter experts review the new user’s description of their intended use of the code and any sponsors of their RELAP5-3D work. The COG review is monthly and new user requests received after a COG meeting are scheduled for review at the subsequent COG meeting. When a new user provides a vague or incomplete description of their intended use, omits funding sponsors of their work, or does not justify their requested access level, their COG review is paused while NCRC requests additional information. 

The Export Control and COG reviews of the new user are independent. The Export Control review decision supersedes the COG review decision. Figure 2 shows a flow chart of the new user approval process.


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Figure 2: Overview of the New User Review Process.



For RELAP5-3D licensing fee information, refer to the Licensing Fee page​​.