Certification process of safety analysis and risk management computer codes at the Savannah River Site

The commitment by Westinghouse Savannah River Company (WSRC) to bring safety analysis and risk management codes into compliance with national and sitewide quality assurance requirements necessitated a systematic, structured approach. As a part of this effort, WSRC, in cooperation with the Westinghouse Hanford Company, has developed and implemented a certification process for the development and control of computer software. Safety analysis and risk management computer codes pertinent to reactor analyses were selected for inclusion in the certification process. As a first step, documented plans were developed for implementing verification and validation of the codes, and establishing configuration control. User qualification guidelines were determined. The plans were followed with an extensive assessment of the codes with respect to certification status. Detailed schedules and work plans were thus determined for completing certification of the codes considered. Although the software certification process discussed is specific to the application described, it is sufficiently general to provide useful insights and guidance for certification of other software