Safety class SC1-SC3 systems, cold and hot functional testing, fuel load readiness
Commissioning software for new-build reactors where tens of thousands of safety-classified components have to be individually proven before the regulator will authorise fuel load.
A new-build nuclear unit is commissioned system by system against a safety classification that never lets a shortcut through: SC1 systems get the tightest QA, the most hold points and the most scrutiny, and every one of them has to be traceable back to an approved design document. Deskely holds every component, system and hold point in one register, with cold functional testing, hot functional testing and fuel load readiness gates built in.
- Assets
- SC1-SC3 systems, components, hold points
- Test
- Cold functional, hot functional, integrated test
- QA basis
- ASME NQA-1 / IAEA GS-R-3
- Gate
- Fuel load authorisation
Choose your project type
The problem
A new-build unit is hundreds of systems and tens of thousands of components, and a spreadsheet cannot prove which safety-classified hold point was actually witnessed.
A first-of-a-kind or replicated reactor build runs mechanical, electrical, I&C and civil contractors in parallel across years of construction, each producing its own ITP records, NCRs and vendor documentation for systems that carry different safety classifications and therefore different QA rigour.
When SC1 pump test records, hold point witness sign-offs and NCR dispositions sit in separate contractor databases, the licensee cannot demonstrate to the regulator at the pre-fuel-load readiness review that every safety-classified hold point was actually witnessed by the right authority, not just documented after the fact.
Deskely tags every component and system to its safety classification and its approved ITP, so hold point status, NCR disposition and QA record completeness are visible per system rather than reconstructed from a document control audit weeks before fuel load.
Setting up the register
Systems, components and hold points are tagged assets matched to the safety classification and the configuration baseline.
P&IDs, single line diagrams and the master equipment list are parsed into a reviewed register, so every component carries its system, its safety classification, its ITP reference and its design document baseline from day one.
ITPs are templated once per component type and instantiated across every valve, pump, penetration and instrument of that type, with mandatory hold points flagged for third-party or regulator witness rather than left to a contractor's own judgement.
Configuration management sits underneath the register: a design change against a tagged component is linked to the affected ITP steps, so a late engineering change does not silently invalidate a test record already signed weeks earlier.
Execution
Cold functional, hot functional and integrated testing are proven system by system, with every hold point witnessed and recorded.
Cold functional testing proves mechanical and electrical systems function correctly at ambient conditions, with each hold point captured against the specific component, the witness's name and role, and the exact revision of the ITP being executed.
Hot functional testing brings the reactor coolant system to operating temperature and pressure without fuel, exercising safety systems, control logic and I&C response under real thermal-hydraulic conditions, with every deviation logged as an NCR against the affected system.
Punch items and NCRs raised during testing are categorised against their safety significance, so a Category 1 finding on an SC1 system blocks fuel load readiness while a minor cosmetic item on a balance-of-plant system does not stall the whole schedule.
Fuel load readiness and system turnover
Fuel load is authorised from a complete, signed record set, not a licensee's assurance that the paperwork will catch up.
The fuel load readiness review draws on the same register used throughout commissioning: every SC1 system's cold and hot functional test results, every open NCR and its disposition, and every hold point witness record, exported as the evidence package the regulator expects to see.
System turnover to operations happens system by system as each one completes its test programme, with the as-built configuration, the ITP history and any outstanding minor punch handed to the operating organisation against the tag, not a generic completion letter.
Every signature carries a name, role, qualification and timestamp, which is what the regulator's inspectors and the licensee's own independent oversight function require before a safety-classified system is declared ready to support fuel load.
Independent nuclear assurance
A new-build unit answers to a regulator's resident inspectors, and the licensee's own independent nuclear assurance function has to hold the same evidence before the regulator ever asks for it.
New-build commissioning runs under an independent nuclear assurance function that sits apart from the construction and commissioning teams, sampling completed ITPs, re-witnessing selected hold points and challenging NCR dispositions on SC1 systems specifically because the consequence of a missed defect is highest there. That function needs the same live register the commissioning team works from, not a summarised report prepared for its visit.
Regulatory intervention points are distinct from contractor hold points: a licence condition may require the regulator's own inspector to witness a specific test in person, such as reactor coolant system pressure testing or first control rod insertion, and that witness has to be recorded with the inspector's name and organisation rather than folded into a generic sign-off column alongside a contractor QA engineer.
Deskely separates contractor hold points, licensee hold points and regulatory intervention points as distinct record types on the same ITP, so a resident inspector's schedule of required witness visits is generated straight from the register instead of chased down by phone before every planned test window.
Independent nuclear assurance
A new-build unit answers to a regulator's resident inspectors, and the licensee's own independent nuclear assurance function has to hold the same evidence before the regulator ever asks for it.
New-build commissioning runs under an independent nuclear assurance function that sits apart from the construction and commissioning teams, sampling completed ITPs, re-witnessing selected hold points and challenging NCR dispositions on SC1 systems specifically because the consequence of a missed defect is highest there. That function needs the same live register the commissioning team works from, not a summarised report prepared for its visit.
Regulatory intervention points are distinct from contractor hold points: a licence condition may require the regulator's own inspector to witness a specific test in person, such as reactor coolant system pressure testing or first control rod insertion, and that witness has to be recorded with the inspector's name and organisation rather than folded into a generic sign-off column alongside a contractor QA engineer.
Deskely separates contractor hold points, licensee hold points and regulatory intervention points as distinct record types on the same ITP, so a resident inspector's schedule of required witness visits is generated straight from the register instead of chased down by phone before every planned test window.
The fuel load evidence set
Six record types carry the weight of a fuel load readiness review, and every one has to trace back to a witnessed hold point.
A new-build unit produces safety-case-defining paperwork across years of construction, and the fuel load readiness review is only as strong as the weakest linked record. These are the record types the review actually pulls, not a summary written for the occasion.
ITP hold point witness record
That the named witness — contractor QA, licensee or regulatory inspector — was physically present and signed at the specific step the approved ITP designates as mandatory.
Captured live during cold and hot functional test execution.
NCR disposition record
That a nonconformance against a safety-classified component was assessed, dispositioned by the correct authority and closed against its safety significance category before turnover.
Raised during construction or testing, closed before fuel load readiness.
Cold functional test data package
That mechanical and electrical systems perform correctly at ambient conditions against the acceptance criteria in the approved test procedure.
Produced ahead of hot functional testing, per system.
Hot functional test data package
That the reactor coolant system, safety systems and I&C respond correctly under real thermal-hydraulic conditions with no fuel loaded.
Produced after cold functional testing, before fuel load readiness review.
Design change traceability record
That a late engineering change against a tagged component is linked to the ITP steps it affects, so no already-signed test record is silently invalidated.
Maintained continuously under configuration management.
System turnover certificate
That a specific system's as-built configuration, ITP history and any outstanding minor punch have been formally accepted by the operating organisation.
Issued system by system as each completes its test programme.
How it runs
From first concrete to fuel load authorisation.
New-build programmes reward a register structured around safety classification from day one, because a single unwitnessed hold point on an SC1 system is what a regulator's readiness review is designed to find.
- 01
Classify and model the plant
Systems and components modelled with their safety classification, ITP reference and configuration baseline from the design documents.
- 02
Parse the equipment set
P&IDs, single lines and the master equipment list drafted into a reviewed register with classification and QA level attached.
- 03
Template ITPs by component type
Test and hold point sequences defined once per component type, instantiated across every valve, pump and instrument of that type.
- 04
Gate fuel load on signed evidence
Fuel load readiness reported from signed cold and hot functional test records, with every NCR tracked to disposition.
FAQ
Questions about New-build reactors scopes.
Keep reading
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The full sector view: safety classification, ITP hold points, QA records and the terminology behind them.
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