The objective of QA in commissioning is to provide measures of confidence in the correct functioning of the installed plant through the demonstration of con­formance of the plant to the designer’s intent by the results of a test programme.

The experience of the CEGB in the commissioning of plant is integrated in the CEGB Plant Completion and Station Commissioning Procedure.

QA documentation for operational nuclear power stations

The CEGB QA arrangements at operating nuclear stations are based on British Standard BS5882 and the Corporate QA Guides as brought together in the CEGB Quality Memorandum QM(0)1. QM(0)1 gives guidance on the content and preparation of QA docu­mentation at operational locations. It is not restricted to nuclear power stations or the nuclear safety related activities on nuclear stations, but recognises some of the additional safety related requirements.

QM(0)1 has been accepted as the in-house standard for operational QA programmes. It contains:

Part 1 — Introduction and explanatory para­

graphs plus BS5882.

Part 2 — Guidance on the application of the principles of BS5882.

Part 3 — Guidance on the preparation of an

Operation QA Programme.

The programme covers both nuclear and conventional activities.

As power stations built prior to Heysham 2 and Torness were not designed, constructed and commis­sioned under formal QA arrangements, the applica­tion of QA to the present stations involves the review of existing management practices and procedures, the preparation of new top tier documents and the modi­fication of existing documentation into an auditable system.

The documentation of the stations’ QA arrange­ments consists of three tiers of QA documentation:

• Top tier definition of management policy and com­mitments.

• Middle tier description of the means by which the established policies and commitments are to be achieved.

• Lower tier provision of instructions for carrying out specific tasks and recording data or results.

The top tier document will be the station operation QA programme.

The middle tier documents will comprise:

• Departmental manuals which index the procedures and practices within departments to conform to the QA programme.

• Quality plans which identify task-orientated docu­mentation associated with the control and verifi­cation of activities, especially when technically or organisationally complex.

The lower tier documents will be in place on most stations in the form of station procedures/instructions/ standing orders, station operating instructions or their equivalent, plant item operating and maintenance in­structions. The review process inherent in the appli­cation of QA will identify omissions and shortcomings, require revision of existing documents and the pre­paration and issue of new documents.

Decommissioning

The application of QA to the decommissioning of nuclear power stations will provide measures of con­fidence that at each stage of decommissioning the safety of the plant and the environment meets the required standards. For the latest PWR plants, the suppliers are required to consider decommissioning aspects in the design of the plant.

The preparation of the QA programme for decom­missioning will be the responsibility of the owner of the plant. However, the period of application of the programme will exceed that for any other phase of the plant’s life, and it is highly probable that the ownership of the decommissioned plant will change during the decommissioning phase. Special emphasis will be necessary on the clear definition of the re­sponsibilities within the phase to ensure that, in any transfer of ownership, continuity is maintained.