17 Nov Nucleonova presentation. “Difficulties for the definition of the Acceptance Criteria during the Dedication Process”. 2020 Virtual annual meeting. (Spanish Nuclear Society)
The world is becoming more and more competitive and companies protect their “Know-how” with suspicion in order to survive. This fact makes it more difficult to obtain the design information of the components from the manufacturer, which makes it challenging to carry out a Dedication Process, a process that is essential for the installation of such components in safety-related locations inside Nuclear Power Plants.
The purpose of this presentation is to define the methodology to follow when not having enough information complicates the definition of the Acceptance Criteria. This information is essential for the success of the Dedication Process, since without it, it becomes impossible to validate an item for Safety-Related Applications.
Before to the beginning of a Dedication Process, during the preparation of the offer of the commercial-grade item that is going to undergo this process, it is possible to detect a lack of defining information in the manufacturer’s available documentation such as commercial catalogs, website, etc. This information is, in many cases, very limited, because the item may be copyrighted or trademarked or simply because the manufacturer considers that the information of the item is confidential.
Against this fact, Nucleonova has defined a system for obtaining the Acceptance Criteria, from establishing direct communication with the manufacturer, the signature of NDAs, etc., through the study of the available information, the results obtained from previous tests carried out on similar items, the existing documentation on this component (regulations, academic analyses, registered patents, Handbooks, etc.), as well as other methods.
This exhaustive analysis results in a range of values to be taken as a reference that allow to verify, to a reasonable extent, that the analyzed item shall properly perform the required Safety Function.
To download the document, click here.