Maintaining safety class electrical and electronic equipment in the absence of support from original suppliers

Conference · Wed May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1991

OSTI ID:5706173

Gantt, D A

In the absence of a large market for nuclear-qualified equipment, many manufactures no longer provide the level of support necessary to maintain equipment, which they originally manufactured to nuclear qualification standards. As a result, the nuclear facility operator either must purchase commercial grade items and perform necessary conditioning and dedication, or purchase replacement equipment from a limited number of manufacturers of nuclear-qualified equipment. Westinghouse Hanford Company, in operating the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF), is using both of these approaches. Instrumentation power supplies and signal conditioners used in the FFTF Reactor Shutdown System of the Plant Protection System (PPS) are standard commercial devices that were qualified for PPS use through tests performed for the original system supplier. The US Department of Energy (DOE) Order 5700.6B mandates that all DOE facilities have a quality assurance program conforming to an appropriate national standard and recommends Quality Assurance Program Requirements for Nuclear Facilities, American National Standards Institute/American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ANSI/ASME) NQA-1, as the standard to implement for reactor facilities. Following the requirements of ANSI/ASME NQA-1 and the guidance in Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) Report NP-5652, safety system parts can be purchased either as qualified items or as commercial grade items. This document discusses the process of procuring qualified replacement parts. 6 refs., 1 tab.

• Research Organization: Westinghouse Hanford Co., Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-87RL10930
• OSTI ID: 5706173
• Report Number(s): WHC-SA-1126; CONF-910831--3; ON: DE91014694
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS
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