scope:

FOREWORD

Federal regulations applicable to nuclear power plants require that measures be established to ensure that certain equipment operates as specified. This Standard sets forth requirements and guidelines that may be used to ensure that active mechanical equipment is qualified for specified service conditions. As determined by federal regulators and/or nuclear power plant licensees, this Standard may be applied to future nuclear power plants or existing operating nuclear power plant component replacements, modifications, or additions.

In the early 1970s, initial development of qualification standards was assigned to the N45 Committee of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The N45 Committee in turn established a task force to prepare two series of standards to ensure that pumps and valves used in nuclear plant systems would function as specified. The N45 Committee's valve task force (N278) was reassigned in 1974 to the American National Standards Committee B16 and designated Subcommittee H. The first qualification standard to be issued for valves was ANSI N278.1-1975, which covered the preparation of functional specifications. In 1982, the task force was reassigned to The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Committee on Qualification of Mechanical Equipment Used in Nuclear Power Plants (QME) and designated the Subcommittee on Qualification of Valve Assemblies. As an interim measure, in 1983, ANSI B16.41 was issued to cover functional qualification requirements for power-operated active valve assemblies for nuclear power plants.

The N45 Committee's pump task force (N551), established in 1973, was assigned to ASME Nuclear Power Codes and Standards along with N278 as part of the Subcommittee QNPE, Qualification of Nuclear Plant Equipment. Both N551 and N278 operated as Subcommittee QNPE until 1982, when they were reassigned to the QME Committee and designated as, respectively, the Subcommittee on Qualification of Pump Assemblies and the Subcommittee on Qualification of Valve Assemblies. In June 1977, an agreement between the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and ASME was formulated, giving primary responsibility for qualification standards to IEEE and for quality assurance standards to ASME. This arrangement remained in effect until ASME established the Committee on Qualification of Mechanical Equipment Used in Nuclear Power Plants, now known as the Committee on Qualification of Mechanical Equipment Used in Nuclear Facilities.

The various parts of ASME QME-1-1994 were approved by ANSI on the following dates: Section QP, September 22, 1992; Section QR, June 8, 1993; Section QR, Nonmandatory Appendix A, October 7, 1993; Section QR, Nonmandatory Appendix B, May 14, 1993; and Section QV and its Nonmandatory Appendix A, February 17, 1994. Section QV was a revision and redesignation of ANSI B16.41-1983.

ASME QME-1-2002 was published in 2003. In September 2003, it was recognized that the Standard had aspects, such as the process for valve qualification, that could better use new computer analytical techniques and that were proscriptive in nature. In addition, seismic qualification needed to be updated to recognize new industry guidance. New sections were needed on standardization of experience-based seismic equipment qualification and the qualification of dynamic restraints. At the time, industry experience had demonstrated that qualification to ASME QME-1 was required without the specification of the parameters for which equipment needed to be qualified. The use of this Standard requires that a Qualification Specification be provided.

ASME QME-1-2007 was endorsed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and was the first edition of ASME QME-1 to be so endorsed. It was approved as an American National Standard on June 25, 2007.

The 2012 edition of this Standard was approved as an American National Standard on September 17, 2012.

The 2017 edition of this Standard was approved as an American National Standard on March 21, 2017.

Following approval by the ASME QME Committee, ASME QME-1-2023 was approved by ANSI as an American National Standard on January 13, 2023.