May 4, 2007

Quality Assurance Standards for the Integrated Control Network at theHanford Site's Waste Treatment Plant

In November 2001, Bechtel National issued a purchase order to procure a control system for the integrated control network at the Waste Treatment Plant (Plant). The integrated control network is an automated system that monitors the quality and safety of systems and processes of the Plant. The control system, which is a critical component of the integrated control network, monitors the status of pumps, mixers, and flow rates of the waste through the treatment process. Bechtel National identified the integrated control network as affecting the quality of immobilized high-level radioactive waste. Departmental Orders require the establishment of quality assurance programs over systems and operations. Bechtel National, in implementing the Department's quality assurance directives, concluded that the control system needed to meet quality assurance standards for nuclear facilities or equivalent because it affected the quality of immobilized high-level waste.