Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) for Waste Stabilization/Solidification - Stabilization and Solidification of Hazardous, Radioactive, and Mixed Wastes - page 321

and process control testing; and inspecting for conformance to plans and specifica-
tions. QA is the responsibility of the project engineer or chemist.

12.2.2 Q UALITY C ONTROL

QC is defined as all those planned and specified actions or operations necessary to
produce a product that will meet requirements for quality as specified. QC includes,
but should not be limited to, inspection of the production and placement operation,
process control testing, and inspection of the finished product. QC is the responsi-
bility of the contractor.

12.2.3 Q UALITY C ONTROL P LAN

The QC plan is developed by the contractor and approved by the project engineer
or chemist. The QC plan addresses the actions, inspection, sampling, and testing
necessary to keep the production and placement operations in control, to quickly
determine when an operation has gone out of control, and how to respond to correct
the situation and bring it back into control. Developing, implementing, maintaining,
and supplementing the QC plan is the responsibility of the contractor. Oversight of
the activities required to fulfill the QC plan is the responsibility of the project
engineer or chemist.
The purpose of a QC plan is to ensure that quality is instilled in the product
during its generation. Quality cannot be added after it is generated. Thus, a func-
tional, responsive QC plan is imperative for the production of a quality product. A
QC plan addresses the actions needed, including inspection, sampling, and testing,
for the following reasons:

• To keep the process in control

• To quickly determine when the process has gone out of control

• To respond adequately to correct the situation and bring the process back

into control

In many project contracts, acceptance and payment are based on measurements
of specified properties; on the contractor's fulfillment of process and QC inspection,
sampling, and testing; and on the engineer's inspection, sampling, and testing to
confirm (and verify) that the work conforms to the plans and specifications. Payments
are often related to the percentage of finished products outside of the specified limits
that define acceptable levels. To encourage quality, pay factors are based on a
curvilinear relationship rather than straight-line, and adjustments become more sig-
nificant as quality levels diminish. In like manner, the non-linear pay factors provide
an incentive payment for quality significantly exceeding the minimum quality levels.
The Guide Specification for Military S/S of Contaminated Materials published by
the U.S. Corps of Engineers (USCOE) 2 suggests that payment be based on the contract
unit price schedule for each unit of contaminated material entering the S/S process.
This unit price shall include the cost for materials, equipment, waste feed processing,
S/S operations, stockpiles, testing, and all other work associated with the S/S process.