THE IMPROVEMENT OF TANK CALIBRATIONS AT SAVANNAH RIVER SITE

In the past many of the tank calibrations at Savannah River Site were done entirely within the production organizations. Responsibility for writing the tank calibration and data collection procedures was usually assigned to new engineers with very little experience in calibrating tanks. The data was collected manually. While the data was being collected, no checks were made to ensure its accuracy and consistency. Even with the state of the art measurement systems, the results that were obtained were less accurate than desired. With the increased emphasis on measurement control, the need for more consistent and more accurate tank calibrations has been recognized. An automated data collection system has been designed and used to calibrate three tanks at Savannah River Site. Also, a dedicated group within a central measurement control organization has been trained with the automated system and participated in the planning, procedure writing, data collection, and data analysis for calibration of these tanks. The improvements with the automated system are evident when comparing present results with past tank calibration results.