Design bases for automation of a quality assurance system in radioactive waste management

Abstract

The design, construction, operation and decommissioning of a radioactive waste management facility requires compliance with the applicable regulations for nuclear quality assurance. However, although compliance is mandatory, in some countries the requirements are outlined for every type of nuclear facility, therefore they are generic and lack details of the actions necessary to ensure that the more specific quality objectives for a radioactive waste management facility are met. Besides that, the quality assurance system of such enterprise is complex, but ready-to-use, commercially available computer tools to assist managing the processes are still needed. The available quality management software requires either adaptation through the inclusion of specific data sets from the quality control program of a radioactive waste management facility, or the development of a customized tool. Therefore, the objective of this work is to search for a brief historical background of the emergence of Quality Assurance in the nuclear area in the Western world, providing information to form the engineering bases that allow the development of a computerized quality assurance system that may assist the quality manager to assure compliance with the applicable regulation in these countries.