Risk Based QA/QC in a Large Accelerator Project

Risk Based QA/QC in a Large Accelerator Project

The Spallation Neutron Source Project,

Oak Ridge National LaboratoryPresented at the American Society For Quality

2006 National Energy and Environmental Conference by

John Mashburn SNS Quality Representative

ORNL/SNS is managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725

OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORYU. S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

2Risk Based QA/QC08/29/2006

US Department of Energy

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) has a Strategic Goal for Science: To protect our national and economic security by providing world-class scientific research capacity and advancing scientific knowledge.

DOE’s Office of Science (SC) is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, providing more than 40 percent of total funding for physics, chemistry, materials science and other areas of the physical sciences.

DOE, through the Office of Science, funds more than 7,000 individual research projects at universities, national laboratories, U.S. industry and the non-profit sector.



Oak Ridge National Laboratory

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is one of 10 major laboratories operated by the DOE SC. When DOE selected a site for the Spallation Neutron Source Project (SNS), ORNL was chosen because of the opportunity to offer at one laboratory a reactor that was already in use by neutron scientists, as well as the new, accelerator-produced neutron beams.

The SNS project was completed in May 2006, after 7 years and at a cost of $1.4 billion.

The SNS project was considered an important success story because it was completed on schedule and within budget, a rare event for such advanced large-scale scientific machines. It also set a new safety record.



Spallation Neutron Source



What is a Neutron?

A neutron is one of the fundamental particles that make up matter. This uncharged particle, identified in 1932, exists in the nucleus of a typical atom along with its positively charged counterpart, the proton. Neutrons make up more than half of all matter.

Protons and neutrons each have about the same mass, and both can exist as free particles away from the nucleus. Unlike protons, free neutrons don’t last long, they decay with a half-life of about 15 minutes when not embedded in an atomic nucleus. (Atom depicted here is from the University of Tennessee, csep10.phys.utk.edu)



Neutron Scattering Neutron scattering is a useful source of information about

the positions, motions, and magnetic properties of solids. When a beam of neutrons is aimed at a sample, many neutrons will pass through the material. But some will interact directly with atomic nuclei and "bounce" away at an angle, like colliding balls in a game of pool. This behavior is called neutron diffraction, or neutron scattering.

Using detectors, scientists can count scattered neutrons, measure their energies and the angles at which they scatter, and map their final position (shown as a diffraction pattern of dots with varying intensities). In this way, scientists can glean details about the nature of materials ranging from liquid crystals to superconducting ceramics, from proteins to plastics, and from metals to micelles to metallic glass magnets.



Neutron Source

For research on physical and biological materials, neutron beams with enough brightness are in short supply. Just as we prefer a bright light to a dim one to read the fine print in a book, researchers prefer a brighter source of neutrons that will give more detailed snapshots of material structure and make "movies" of molecules in motion.

The SNS provides these brighter neutron beams. Like a flashing strobe light providing high-speed illumination of an object, the SNS can produce pulses of neutrons every 17 milliseconds, with 10 times more neutrons than the most powerful pulsed neutron sources previously available.



Particle Accelerators Particle accelerators are mainly designed and used

by physicists to investigate subatomic phenomena. Lower energy accelerators are now finding some uses in medical treatment and industrial work. The ORNL Spallation Neutron Source is an example of a medium sized accelerator that is used as a driver for another process.

How do accelerators work? Basically, an accelerator takes a particle, speeds it up using electromagnetic fields, and the particle bashes into a target or other particles.

For SNS, the target is liquid mercury, which gives off neutrons when bombarded by fast protons.



Linear AcceleratorIn a linear accelerator the field is due to traveling electromagnetic (E-M) waves. When an E-M wave hits a bunch of particles, those in the back get the biggest boost, while those in the front get less of a boost. In this fashion, the particles "ride" the front of the E-M wave like a bunch of surfers. (This graphic is from a Lawrence Berkeley National Lab website, www.particleadventure.org)



Protons Spall Neutrons from Mercury Nuclei in the Target

1 GeV protons enter through the rounded nose of the target vessel.

Each mercury nucleus that is impacted by a 1 GeV proton can emit several neutrons, which leave the vessel in all directions.



SNS Energy per Pulse

How much energy is involved? An M107 .50 Caliber Long Range Sniper Rifle shooting Browning Model M33 ammunition, can penetrate 0.3” steel at 500 meters with its 18 kilojoule (kJ) bullet

However, the SNS accelerator produces 24kJ per pulse (that’s 33% more kinetic energy) and it fires 60 pulses/second!



SNS Construction Project

The SNS Project was conducted under a quality assurance plan that complied with DOE quality assurance order O 414.1C, by using ISO 9001:2000 as directed by the DOE order.

Now that the project has been completed, the operations phase QA program compliant with the same order and standard, is described in the “Spallation Neutron Source Quality Manual, SNS-QA-P01,” Rev.4, which is on the web at the QA homepage under “Project Information:” http://www.sns.gov/projectinfo/



SNS Quality Assurance

The SNS project had a quality manager reporting to the deputy project director. There were 7 subprojects, each of which had a Quality Assurance Representative (QAR). Because some were part-time, there were never more than 5 FTE’s.

The role of QAR was to provide a local presence at one of the six partner laboratories or one of the three SNS divisions. Their duties included QA training, procedure writing, inspection, auditing, etc.

A large fraction of the $1.4 billion cost was for suppliers, so QAR involvement in procurements, oversight of vendors, and involvement in item acceptance was absolutely critical for project success.



Graded Approach

The most important feature of the SNS QA program was the GRADED APPROACH, which guided the deployment of quality efforts to optimize the cost-benefit of the quality program

Every use of the SNS quality assurance program was directed to first discover the QUALITY LEVEL of the item or activity involved--this affected design, procurement, installation, etc.

Why use a graded approach?

To make the best use of resources

To be consistent across all project organizations, partner labs, procurements, and over the duration of the project

To be sure safety, environmental, and nuclear rules were respected

To cover all SNS items and activities with the appropriate care



Acceptance Stages

Acceptance of buildings and equipment was performed in stages, including:

DESIGN REVIEWS prior to fabrication

Component ACCEPTANCE

READINESS REVIEWS of major systems

final commissioning and acceptance of the entire accelerator, target , andneutron instruments



Acceptance Check Lists

At SNS, inspection and test activity was planned and recorded using ACCEPTANCE CHECK LISTS (ACL’s)

Almost all the structures, technical equipment, components, and software that make up the SNS were accompanied by ACL’s

The ACL was a plan for acceptance made by the engineer or designer before the item was made or purchased

ACL’s were also made for services, including machine shop or installation work, by the responsible technical acquirer

The ACL was completed step-by-step as inspections were done or tests performed

The QAR was a partner in developing and completing ACL’s



Graded Approach—Determining Grade

Risk Type Level 1. Serious Level 2.

Moderate Level 3. Routine

Funct-ional

Potential for a significant adverse impact to completion of the SNS Project or to achieving key performance goals.

Potential for a moderately adverse impact to the SNS Project by affecting a WBS level 3 task or a major system or component.

Potential for negligible impact to an SNS task, system, or component.

Environment, Safety, and Health

Potential for (1) a death or total disability or severe adverse impact on the health or safety of a worker or the public, or (2) environmental damage that could exceed regulatory limits or involve significant cleanup costs.

Potential for injury or illness requiring hospitalization, temporary or partial disability, or moderately adverse impact on the health or safety of a worker or the public.

Potential for (1) minimal impact on the health and safety of the public or a worker, such as injury or illness requiring minor supportive treatment but not requiring hospitalization, or (2) a negligible impact on the environment.



Graded Approach—Determining Grade

Risk Type Level 1. Serious Level 2. Moderate Level 3. Routine

Cost Potential for a financial loss of $500K or more.

Potential for a financial loss of $50K or more.

Potential for a financial loss less than $50K.

Com-pliance

Potential for inadvertent noncompliance with state and federal laws and regulations or DOE requirements.

Potential for inadvertent noncompliance with administrative orders or procedures established by the SNS Project Office.

Potential for minor noncompliance with established management practices.



Graded Approach--Actions Appropriate to Quality Levels

Level 1. Disciplined Level 2. Balanced Level 3. Flexible

Action Design reviews and independent verifications

Design reviews and verifications

Little or no design reviews, verification, or validation

Thorough documentation

Adequate and appropriate documentation

Minimal documentation

Established Acceptance Check List (ACL)

Established ACL ACL not required

Vendor qualification and surveillance

Vendor qualification (questionnaire minimum)

Little or no vendor qualification





Action Formal procedures Procedures as needed

No formal procedures except ES&H (i.e., follow good practices)

Complete oversight and assessment activities

Oversight covered under general management assessments

Oversight performed by line supervision

Controlled measuring and test equipment (M&TE)

Controlled M&TE M&TE generally not used

Documented worker qualifications

Knowledgeable personnel employed

Knowledgeable personnel employed





Action Formal inspection and testing

Tests and inspections conducted appropriately

Normal receipt inspection only (except where ES&H requires more)

QA approvals are required

QA representative consultations are required

QA consultations are available



Acceptance of Partner Labs’ Products

In addition to their own exercise of the graded approach and acceptance check lists, the partner labs participated in a turnover process that included compiling the ACL’s and other documentation to support completion of their tasks.

The partner labs provided major subsystems, and as each major subsystem was completed it went through an Accelerator Readiness Review by a panel of outside experts, and after their approval was sequentially commissioned and accepted. The stages were front end, warm Linac, entire linac, storage ring, and target plus initial beamline instruments.



Examples of QA Level 1

The Personnel Protection System meets the criteria for QA Level 1 based on safety as well as cost and function. It has a number of inputs that will cause it to turn off the power to the accelerator ion source. For example, interlock switches can detect a person opening a door into the accelerator tunnel, which has zones of very high radiation when the accelerator is operating.

An example of cost and function driving the decision would be a superconducting cryomodule. Its cost is over a million dollars, and there are 23 of them in series, to bring the accelerated H- ions from 186 MeV to the full 1 GeV energy.



Construction, Installation & Testing Safety

As noted in the grading table, SAFETY is a number one priority both of the DOE and the SNS project.

SNS building construction was completed in 4.2 million person-hours without a lost-time injury. This was noted by the government’s review team as an outstanding achievement !

In addition to construction, there was a workforce of technicians, scientists and engineers, so the aggregate was 7.5 million project hours with only 2 injuries causing lost workday cases (a turned ankle in a parking lot and a motorcycle skid on the access road)



SNS Project--Final Product Exceeds Goals

By switching to superconducting RF stages in the linac and other improvements, the SNS project provided 1/3 more output power than the original goal, with a much easier upgrade path to even higher power and a similarincrease in neutron flux.



Summary The SNS Project was completed after 7 years at a

cost of $1.4 billion, on schedule and within budget, and exceeding performance goals.

The Quality Assurance Plan implemented the DOE requirement for a graded approach to deployment of quality efforts, which was cost-effective.

Acceptance of work was performed in stages, from design reviews prior to fabrications, to component acceptance, to readiness reviews of major systems, to the final commissioning and acceptance of the entire machine.

With safety as the highest priority, 7.5 million project hours were worked with only 2 lost work day cases.

Risk Based QA/QC in a Large Accelerator Project

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