Plans and Procedures - doe-std-1128-98

DOE-STD-1128-98

7.2.3.3

Plans and Procedures

Facility nuclear criticality safety plans and procedures are important

components of the overall facility operation. These documents provide the

means by which the program is conducted and prescribe how nuclear

criticality safety is to be achieved. These plans and procedures identify

how both the administrative activities are to occur and how the technical

aspects of nuclear criticality safety analysis are conducted. The purpose of

procedures is to facilitate the safe and efficient conduct of operations. The

processes of procedure development, review, training, and approval have

sufficient controls to ensure that nuclear criticality concerns are properly

addressed. These controls include the periodic review and reaffirmation of

these procedures, ensuring that procedure deviations are properly

investigated and reported to facility management and, if appropriate, to

DOE. The controls should also mitigate the possibility of such deviations

recurring.

Procedures should exist that address the determination and posting of

nuclear criticality safety parameters. These procedures should include a

description of how the limits are to be determined and how workstations

are to be posted as to form, geometry controls, mass limits, moderator

limits, etc.

Inspections and audits are performed to assess the success of the nuclear

criticality safety program. The audits must be performed by qualified

individuals who are independent of the operation. They are conducted to

verify that operating procedures and other safety standards are being

followed and to identify any weaknesses in the nuclear safety program.

Deficiencies identified in these inspections and audits must be formally

addressed, tracked, reported, and resolved.

ANSI/ANS-8.20 (ANSI, 1991) provides guidance for development of

nuclear criticality safety training plans and procedures for personnel

working with or near fissile materials. This program and its associated

procedures should describe the program, training requirements,

recordkeeping, content, responsibilities, and objectives of a facility nuclear

criticality safety program.

7.2.3.4

Nuclear Facility Safety Analysis

Safety analysis reports document the analysis and the potential

consequences of accidents and abnormal occurrences at nuclear facilities.

For those facilities which process, store, and handle plutonium and other

fissile materials, nuclear criticality safety analysis is a required element of

the facility safety analysis report. The process includes the identification of

hazards in the facility (including nuclear criticality safety hazards), the

identification and development of potential scenarios involving nuclear

criticality concerns, the development of failure modes and the potential

effects of the accident, and the consequences of the accident. This safety

analysis report, and the associated technical safety requirements, should

document both the entire nuclear criticality safety program and the analysis

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