Enviros - Today's Business, Tomorrow's World

AMBER

A state-of-the-art computer software tool for modelling migration and fate of contaminants in the environment.

What is AMBER?

AMBER is a flexible, graphical-user-interface based tool that allows users to build their own dynamic compartmental models to represent the migration, degradation and fate of contaminants in an environmental system. AMBER allows the user to assess routine, accidental and long-term contaminant release.

Main Features

AMBER overcomes key limitations associated with most existing compartmental computer tools by giving the user flexibility. Specifically, AMBER:

Encapsulates everything needed for a complete performance assessment tool Has a powerful, user-friendly graphical interface Incorporates a fast and accurate Laplace-transform solver and numerical time-step solvers Allows time-varying source terms and transfer processes which may be linear or non-linear Allows the import/export of data with external files Has 'units awareness' Can be applied probabilistically through both Latin Hypercube Sampling and full Monte Carlo analysis Has built in graphing as well as Excel export capabilities Is easy to use and apply Allows the user to tailor the results format.

It allows the user the flexibility to define:

• Any number of compartments
• Any number of contaminants and associated rates of degradation (both global and compartment dependent)
• Any number of transfers between compartments
• A hierachy of sub-models within larger models
• Algebraic expressions to represent transfer processes operating between compartments
• Algebraic expressions to represent the uptake of contaminants by humans and other output quantities of interest
• Non-linear transfer processes (e.g. solubility-limited leaching)
• Deterministic, probabilistic and time varying parameter values.
   

This flexibility means that users can rapidly construct case-specific models and tailor generic models to their specific needs. A full description of AMBER can be found in the suite of documentation available from the download page. If you have any questions or feedback concerning AMBER please contact us. A free demonstration version of AMBER please click here.
 

Continual Development

AMBER is a mature software product with a wide international user base.  The code continues to be actively developed primarily in response to development ideas suggested by AMBER users.  Full new software releases are provided annually to users who have a maintenance licence for the software, which also entitles them to advice and assistance. The most recent release of AMBER, Version 5.1, incorporates several new features, including:

• The ability to define matrices of correlation coefficients between sampled parameters
• A new route for modifying parameter types and indexing via the parameters window
• New tools for arranging items in the model window
• A single control panel for drop-down scenario options within a case; and
• Full support for importing and exporting sampled results.

Acknowledgements

AMBER continues to be developed by Enviros and Quintessa. Additional technical and/or financial help has been provided by Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (UPM), Empresa Nacional de Resíduos Radiactivos S A (ENRESA), JGC Corporation, the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute (JNC), NDA RWMD, the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate (SKI), and the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).