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U.S. Department of Energy
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Quality assurance program requirements for research reactors

Book ·
OSTI ID:7119408
The standard provides requirements for establishing, managing, conducting, and evaluating quality assurance programs for the design, construction, testing, modification and maintenance of research reactors and associated experiments, but not routine reactor operations. In terms of this standard: (1) quality assurance comprises those planned and systematic actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that a structure, system, or component will perform satisfactorily in service; (2) a research reactor is one used for scientific, engineering, or training purposes which operates at: (a) a thermal power level of 1 megawatt or less; or (b) a thermal power level of 10 megawatts or less and does not contain: (i) a flow loop through the core in which fueled experiments are conducted, or (ii) a liquid fuel loading; or (iii) an experimental facility in the core in excess of 16 square inches (103.2 cm/sup 2/) in cross-section. The level of quality assurance effort applied by the owner/operator to research reactor activities is to be consistent with the importance of these activities to safety. Quality assurance effort is applied to safety-related items, which are defined as those physical structures, systems, and components whose intended functions are to either prevent accidents that could cause undue risk to the health and safety of the public, or to control and mitigate the consequences of such accidents. The safety-related items included in the quality assurance program shall be, as a minimum, those of the reactor safety and protection system, engineered safety features, and the radiation monitoring system, as identified in the Limiting Conditions for Operations section in the Technical Specifications for a given reactor.
OSTI ID:
7119408
Report Number(s):
ANS-15.8; ANSI-N-402-1976
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English