Attachment 2. Compiling Technical Information for the Development of SDDs

DOE-STD-3024-98

Attachment 2

Compiling Technical Information

for the Development of SDDs

A key variable in determining the level of effort that the development of an SDD will involve is the amount of

effort that goes toward locating, screening, reviewing source documents, and extracting the desired

information from them. This effort could range from almost nothing to a project that requires substantial

effort. Obviously, the more technical information that is used, the better the quality and usefulness of the

resulting SDD. However, because the costs and schedule will tend to grow, facility management will need to

make a decision regarding the level of effort. This attachment provides information that can help with that

decision.

AVAILABILITY OF DESIGN INFORMATION

There may be a perception that existing DOE nuclear facilities have little or no design information available

(that is, requirements and basis), that it would be prohibitively expensive to retrieve, and would probably not

be relevant to the current facility configuration. There may also be the perception that only new facilities

have any design information available.

These perceptions are not completely accurate. Field experience in both the commercial nuclear industry and

the DOE nuclear complex indicates that some virtually new facilities have already "lost" important design

information that once existed, and that many "existing" facilities have a fair amount of design information

still on-hand or reasonably retrievable. In some cases, the need to capture the design information when it was

produced was not recognized, and as a result it may have been simply discarded at the end of the design

effort. The same is true for modifications to existing facilities. The situation varies widely, however. At a

few facilities, there is almost no information available. At some, a moderate amount of information is on-

hand but some essential information is no longer available. At others, a moderate amount of information is

on-hand, but the reliability or trustworthiness of the information is questionable. At a few, a vast amount of

information is available that is highly trustworthy.

Whether a facility is a new facility or an "existing" facility is not a significant factor, but rather more directly

the amount of design information necessary, and whether that information is on-hand or can be retrieved

within reasonable efforts.

THE DOE-STD-3009 APPROACH

DOE-STD-3009-94 provides a sound approach to establishing the important technical requirements for

safety SSCs that are used in the development of upgraded FSARs to meet DOE 5480.23. That approach

involves a combination of two points: (1) Using design information that is immediately available or can be

retrieved through reasonable efforts; and (2) Developing new information regarding the necessary functional

requirements as part of the process hazards analysis effort in sufficient detail to support the safety analysis.

Documented engineering judgements (including their bases) can be used to extrapolate existing information

and thereby establish the performance capabilities of the existing systems. The assumed performance

capabilities can often be verified against records of operating experience or by testing, at relatively small

costs. These capabilities, once verified to be adequate by analysis and validated in the field, then become

requirements. This approach has technical merit and is suggested by OSHA in its rulemaking regarding the

process hazards analysis program. When sufficient technical information is not on-hand or reasonably

retrievable, this second method is strongly recommended.

Att 2-1