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Original Date: 01/23/1995
Revision Date: 01/18/2007
Information : Qualification of Weapon Processes and Product
Traditional weapon process and product qualification in the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Complex involved assessment qualification by Qualification Evaluation Teams. Design and production agencies had separate responsibilities and used multiple, often different, procedures. Qualification of weapon process and product had to be re-engineered to accommodate constrained budgets and downsizing of the production complex and weapons stockpile. However, the requirement of retaining competence to perform weapon development and production responsibilities while providing options for improvements to stockpile safety, security, and reliability still represented a critical need. To ensure effective future determinations that product design and associated manufacturing and acceptance processes would be capable of providing a product that meets customer requirements, Sandia National Laboratories participated in the development of a Nuclear Weapons Complex- wide Engineering Procedure.
This procedure calls for qualification to be performed in a uniform, four- stage process by interagency {rpdict Rea;ozatopm Teams (PRTs) concurrently with other product realization activities. The uniform process stages are requirements verification; qualification plan generation and verification; qualification plan implementation and verification; and requirements validation. PRTs use existing engineering release and change order systems as they relate to the qualification process.
The engineering procedure applies to the development, design, fabrication, and acceptance of weapon and weapon-related materials and acceptance equipment. Also covered are weapon-related software, stockpile evaluation activities, dismantlement activities, and nuclear weapon demonstration programs. The concurrent qualification process helps guarantee that a project has met the goals and objectives of specific activities such as production readiness and environmental compliance.
The procedures required by this effort should better enable Sandia to satisfy customer requirements, promote teamwork, use metrics for continuous improvement, develop and implement life cycle project plans, and reduce life cycle cost.
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