Case Study: Bechtel SAIC streamlines lifecycle modeling and enables advanced uncertainty analysis with Lumina Decision Systems' Analytica

Bechtel - Customer Case Study

Bechtel SAIC, the management and operating contractor for the DOE’s Yucca Mountain Project, faced a complex lifecycle and uncertainty-analysis challenge: existing spreadsheets were unwieldy for large multidimensional arrays, slow for Monte Carlo-style uncertainty analysis, and hard to verify. Based on an independent comparison of 12 packages, Bechtel selected Analytica from Lumina Decision Systems for its array-handling, influence diagrams, time‑series support and documentation.

Lumina Decision Systems implemented Analytica to build the lifecycle model, replacing two large spreadsheets with a single model under 1 MB (about one-tenth the prior size) by using multidimensional array formulas. The result is a much easier-to-manage, verifiable model with expanded decision-analysis capability and a clear path to statistical and Monte Carlo cost‑risk analysis; Bechtel is recommending Analytica for other major projects.

Bechtel

Jim Nail

Project Leader