Site Assessments and Criteria Review and Approach Documents

Assessment of Safety System Software and Firmware and Safety Analysis and Design Software at Defense Nuclear Facilities

On March 13, 2003, the DOE issued the Implementation Plan for DNFSB Recommendation 2002-1, Quality Assurance for Safety Software at Department of Energy Defense Nuclear Facilities, referred to as the SQA IP. This Plan defines the actions and processes that will be taken to ensure the quality of safety software at defense nuclear facilities. Safety software is composed of safety system software and safety analysis and design software.

Actions outlined in the SQA IP are in the form of commitments that will be implemented to ensure the quality and integrity of safety software at defense nuclear facilities. Of the various commitments, Commitment 4.2.3 and Commitment 4.2.4 specify actions that DOE will take to assess the processes in place to ensure that the quality of safety software currently used at its defense nuclear facilities is adequate.

Commitment 4.2.3. focuses on instrumentation and controls software while Commitment 4.2.4 is on safety analysis and design software. Prior to conducting assessments, Criteria Review and Approach Documents (CRAD) were developed. The Instrumentation and Control CRAD and Safety Analysis and Design CRAD were generated for the identification, selection, and assessment of the safety software.

Program Secretarial Officers (PSOs) and Field Element Managers with assistance from site contractors developed schedules (EM and NNSA Assessment Schedules) for completing the assessments using the CRADs. The assessments began in late 2003. Sites will be asked to make their assessment reports and lessons learned available for posting on the SQA Knowledge Portal at a later date.