Commercial-grade dedication is a process by which a commercial-grade item (CGI) is designated for use as a basic component. This acceptance process is undertaken to provide reasonable assurance that a CGI to be used as a basic component will perform its intended safety function and, in this respect, is deemed equivalent to an item designed and manufactured under a 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix B, quality assurance program. This assurance is achieved by identifying the critical characteristics of the item and verifying their acceptability by inspections, tests, or analyses by the purchaser or third-party dedicating entity.
Commercial Grade Dedication is defined by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission as a process by which a commercial-grade item (CGI) is designated for use as a basic component. Of course, to really understand this rather vague definition, one must know what exactly constitutes a Commercial Grade Item. We also must know the contextual meaning of a basic component.
What are Basic Components?
It’s easier to understand what a commercial grade item is if we first familiarize ourselves with basic components. Basic components are components that affect the safety performance of a nuclear system or structure, and were designed and manufactured specifically with this task in mind. Basic components could even include software designed to fulfill a safety role. A basic component could refer to a complete piece of equipment, or any of its subcomponents. These items are manufactured under strict guidelines and performance tests mandated under the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) to provide reasonable assurance that they will perform their necessary duties. Given the inherent safety risks of the industry, it’s obviously of critical importance to be able to guarantee the functionality of basic components.
What are Commercial Grade Items?
Commercial Grade Items are simply items that were not designed to satisfy these standards, but may be able to perform the function of a basic component. Since they were not manufactured and tested under the regulatory restrictions of basic components, they must undergo a process that can deem them equivalent from a functionality standpoint before being used to replace a basic component, or provide equivalent functionality in a different system or structure.
Commercial grade items may be practically identical in all ways, but lacking dedication by a third party source that has been qualified to declare a CGI to be equal in function and safety. A nuclear engineering team properly trained in the most recent standards and codes related to the equipment’s safe operation are able to dedicate a commercial grade item to be used in a nuclear setting.
Commercial Grade Dedication
There are many advantages of commercial grade dedication. Obsolete parts are an ongoing problem in the nuclear industry, and one every company must work proactively to combat. For example, throughout the lifespan of a nuclear plant, numerous technological advances will be made, and more efficient ways of doing things will inevitably be developed. To keep up with these changes, commercial grade dedication can be implemented to replace outdated equipment. Nuclear components may become obsolete or broken. Reverse engineering is one way to replicate a now out of production or obsolete piece of equipment, but without a qualified dedication, this equipment would be unusable under regulatory restrictions of the industry. Perhaps only one part of a larger system needs replacing, but an engineer has designed a more efficient and modern solution to an old problem. Rather than being forced to replace that part with an original replacement, a commercial grade dedicating entity could assure the new item or system’s ability to perform. The dedication process takes a look at all of the item’s critical characteristics (the important safety and functional attributes of the item), identifies, measures, tests and verifies them in order to provide reasonable assurance that the item is completely capable of the demands of the industry.