Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board

Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board inspectors at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington spotted a questionable safety practice, and a reluctance to talk about it, at one of the tank farms last month, according to a recent report. “A resident inspector observed an event investigation meeting after workers in the SX tank farm […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration backdated letters to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and claimed its own safety rules actually permitted safety deficiencies the rules were supposed to prevent, the board said. In a letter late last year to Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, the board complained about “the recent practice of the National […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration backdated letters to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and claimed its own safety rules actually permitted safety deficiencies the rules were supposed to prevent, the board said. In a letter late last year to Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, the board complained about “the recent practice of the National […]

Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board inspectors at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington spotted a questionable safety practice, and a reluctance to talk about it, at one of the tank farms last month, according to a recent report. “A resident inspector observed an event investigation meeting after workers in the SX tank farm […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board could be left without a quorum within 10 months if President Joe Biden fails to nominate and win Senate approval of at least one individual before the term ends for a long-serving member. It increasingly appears 2022 will draw to a close without the White House nominating anyone to […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board could be left without a quorum within 10 months if President Joe Biden fails to nominate and win Senate approval of at least one individual before the term ends for a long-serving member. It increasingly appears 2022 will draw to a close without the White House nominating anyone to […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board last week appointed Nichole Huntington a new resident inspector at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. Huntington’s first day on the job was Dec. 5, according to a press release from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) acting executive director of operations Christopher Roscetti. Huntington […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board last week appointed Nichole Huntington a new resident inspector at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. Huntington’s first day on the job was Dec. 5, according to a press release from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) acting executive director of operations Christopher Roscetti. Huntington […]

Long-idled design work resumed this summer on the high-level waste portion of the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, according to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. After August workshops, prime contractor Bechtel National and DOE created what they call the “HLW [High Level Waste] Firm […]

During fiscal 2022, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board worked on staffing needs and finalized a deal with the Department of Energy spelling out the watchdog’s authority to access people, records and facilities around the weapons complex. Those are a couple of highlights from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) fiscal 2022 Agency Financial Report released last week. […]

During fiscal 2022, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board worked on staffing needs and finalized a deal with the Department of Energy spelling out the watchdog’s authority to access people, records and facilities around the weapons complex. Those are a couple of highlights from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) fiscal 2022 Agency Financial […]

During fiscal 2022, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board worked on staffing needs and finalized a deal with the Department of Energy spelling out the watchdog’s authority to access people, records and facilities around the weapons complex. Those are a couple of highlights from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) fiscal 2022 Agency Financial […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has suggestions for avoiding uranium-related fires once the Uranium Processing Facility in Tennessee starts up and wants the Department of Energy to explain what it’s doing to prevent them, according to a letter published this week. “The Board believes that Y-12 can improve the site’s safety posture by ensuring […]

On Nov. 17, the legacy cleanup contractor at the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico lifted a month-long stop work order issued after a steady drip of small mishaps, a spokesperson said Tuesday. Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B) fully lifted the “self-imposed stop work order” last week after allowing some […]

The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup field office at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, set up in 2015, and its remediation contractor still face staff shortages, a federal safety watchdog heard Wednesday. Michael Mikolanis, who heads the DOE Office of Environmental Management field office at Los Alamos, told the Defense Nuclear Facilities […]

The Department of Energy is investigating the source of dried radioactive waste found near a pipe-fitting at the Tank-Side Cesium Removal project at the Hanford Site in Washington state, a spokesperson said last week. The ongoing review could show if there is a leak in the process piping in the Tank Side Cesium Removal system […]

By Dan Parsons Engineers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory continue to upgrade the ventilation system at the plutonium pit production facility after two separate incidents where the system failed to blow contaminated air away from clean rooms where employees were working.  The most recent failure occurred on Aug. 22, when ventilation in the Plutonium […]

Pit production will continue to share space at the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s PF-4 Plutonium Facility with other missions for the foreseeable future, the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration told a federal safety agency on Wednesday. The semi autonomous Department of Energy nuclear-weapons agency is upgrading PF-4 to produce multiple war-ready pits some […]

Pit production will continue to share space at the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s PF-4 Plutonium Facility with other missions for the foreseeable future, the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration told a federal safety agency on Wednesday. The semi autonomous Department of Energy nuclear-weapons agency is upgrading PF-4 to produce multiple war-ready pits some […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Boards sent the Department of Energy a reminder about overdue safety reports for several nuclear weapon sites, according to a letter dated Oct. 20. DOE’s delay is “affecting the Board’s safety oversight,” Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) chair Joyce Connery wrote in the letter to Secretary of Energy Jennifer […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Boards sent the Department of Energy a reminder about overdue safety reports for several nuclear weapon sites, according to a letter dated Oct. 20. DOE’s delay is “affecting the Board’s safety oversight,” Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) chair Joyce Connery wrote in the letter to Secretary of Energy Jennifer […]

The Department of Energy expects it will be early 2023 before an Amentum-led contractor starts pretreating its third batch of low-level radioactive tank waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state. An ongoing planned outage could take a few more months, a DOE spokesperson said by email Wednesday. That is longer than the agency’s characterization […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board wants the Department of Energy to address by early January 2023 whether a contractor in Washington state is being rigorous enough in overseeing a system critical to solidifying liquid radioactive waste at the Hanford Site.  In an Oct. 6 letter from Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) Chair Joyce […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management expects decommissioning for Building 235-F at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to be finished in fiscal 2030, William (Ike) White, the office’s acting head, said. Current remediation efforts focus on removing hazardous material from the facility, where deactivation started in July 2019, White said in […]

In one of its first public field hearings since before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board will review operations at the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico this November. During a Nov. 16 session in Santa Fe, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) will look into both […]

The state of Idaho made the Department of Energy pay about $10 million in penalties so far for its failure to clean up high-level sodium bearing radioactive waste at the Idaho National Laboratory, something the agency hopes to do before Jan. 1. Although DOE has yet to set a start-up date for radiological operation of […]

In one of its first public field hearings since before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board will review operations at the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico this November. During a Nov. 16 session in Santa Fe, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) will look into both […]

Brandon Weathers is headed back to Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board headquarters in Washington after wrapping up a four-year stint as a resident inspector at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, the board said recently. Weathers now will join the independent federal nuclear inspector’s Nuclear Programs and Analysis group, the board wrote in a recent […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board wants the Department of Energy and its legacy cleanup contractor to prioritize a new safety analysis for the waste handling area of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico that is currently in limited operations. Since January 2020, contractor Newport News Nuclear BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B) has declared 24 […]

Brandon Weathers is headed back to Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board headquarters in Washington after wrapping up a four-year stint as a resident inspector at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, the board said recently. Weathers now will join the independent federal nuclear inspector’s Nuclear Programs and Analysis group, the board wrote in a […]