Year
1989
Abstract
Packages used to carry radioactive material over the US highways and throughout the world are required to meet stringent safety standards. The packages must be designed, fabricated, tested, certified, operated, and maintained according to carefully specified standards and procedures. Package development may involve numerous organizations and individuals with diverse backgrounds and capabilities. Careful planning, documentation, and coordination is essential to produce a sound package design. The quality assurance plan, written by those with the best understanding of the package - typically the package design team, is the tool which will ensure that the package is successfully developed. This paper addresses the way that quality assurance is used in the development of new radioactive material packages at the Department of Energy (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS). The term \"quality assurance\" or \"QA' will first be defined then it will be shown how QA is applied to virtually every aspect of package development. The package designer writes the QA plan before starting the package development, emphasizing the package design features that are \"importantto- safety,\" such as the containment vessel closure and details of the package shielding. The important-to-safety features are then given special consideration during all phases of package development and in use and maintenance over the lifetime of the package.