U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management, Standards and Quality Assurance, Technical and Quality Assurance Support

Trinity is supporting DOE-EM quality assurance and safety oversight work at waste management projects across the United States. Prior to receiving a direct support contract in 2010, Trinity Engineering Associates' personnel had been supporting similar activities as a subcontractor since 2007.

Our support efforts under this contract have included audits and assesments of a variety of quality and safety-related activities, primarily to assess compliance of field activities with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Nuclear Quality Assurance (NQA) standard. Our staff has provided support in many of the ASME NQA quality requirements, including all 18 requirements within the NQA-1 standard and the nuclear software quality assurance requirements. From this work Trinity has developed a comprehansive capability to evaluate programs for compliance with DOE specific directives such as the Quality Assurance Order 414.1D as well as the ASME NQA standards.

Much of our support under this contract has been provided by our engineering staff who are also experienced NQA auditors. Accordingly, Trinity has been able to provide support to a number of the more technical activities being implemented by EM project contractors. These subjects include design, special processes such as welding and non-destructive examination, software quality assurance including evaluations of quality implementation applied to in-plant control systems, commercial grade dedication, and suspect/counterfeit item programs.

Finally, our staff has experience supporting a wide variety of oversight activities including assist visits, audits, surveillances, management assessments, training courses, Operational Readiness Reviews, and specialized technical evaluations. Trinity personnel have been part of numerous Construction Project Reviews for EM senior management and have provided longer duration on-site support to projects needing addditional resources to prepare for readiness reviews or the transition from construction to operation. Our capabilities in nuclear QA support now include

• audit planning and performance by our certified lead auditors;
• assessments of commercial grade dedication programs;
• software quality assurance activities applied to design and operations
• evaluations of quality assurance activities applied to startup and testing
• evaluations of suspect/counterfeit item programs
• on-site staff support providing additional focused quality program oversight
• design reviews;
• management assessments and contract reviews

For more information about DOE QA programs and DOE's work in environmental management, please visit the DOE Office of Environmental Management web site