System Safety Integration into the Product Realization Process for the Nuclear Weapons Complex

摘要

Since the end of the Cold War, the United States' Nuclear Weapons Complex (NWC) has been undergoing a significant modification in its approach to stockpile maintenance and weapons disposal. To accomplish the nuclear stockpile stewardship mission with fewer personnel resources, restricted testing, and smaller budgets has provided significant challenges to the Department of Energy. The continuing overall consideration continues to be the maintenance of a safe and reliable weapons stockpile for weapons that are expected to significantly exceed their original design lifetime. Upgrades to maintain or improve weapon safety can range from minor to rather significant modifications. To meet future challenges, a Product Realization Process (PRP) is implemented, including concurrent engineering and safety integration. Because PRP represents a departure from past standard practices in the DOE weapons complex, training and education efforts "socialize" it to top and middle management. The authors discuss these factors as well as the use of Product Realization Teams to meet reduced budgets and schedules while generating safe, reliable upgrades. The presentation concludes with specific information relating to the techniques used for standardization of engineering procedures between design and production/dismantlement sites and the importance of system safety principles to the process.