Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board

Joel Spangenberg, the first executive director of operations for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, is leaving the agency to become deputy director of the Selective Service System.  Spangenberg, a member of the government’s senior executive service, is leaving the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) and should start his job with Selective Service on […]

A worker who on July 5, experienced radiological contamination on “unprotected areas” of the head and arm, at the Hanford Site 222-S laboratory tested negative for any internal contamination, a Department of Energy spokesperson said Tuesday. “The contamination was successfully removed from the individual’s skin and clothing without incident in the facility,” the DOE spokesperson […]

A worker who on July 5, experienced radiological contamination on “unprotected areas” of the head and arm, at the Hanford Site 222-S laboratory tested negative for any internal contamination, a Department of Energy spokesperson said Tuesday. “The contamination was successfully removed from the individual’s skin and clothing without incident in the facility,” the DOE spokesperson […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board favors having a national lab study the risk of a potential hydrogen explosion at a high-level radioactive waste vitrification plant being built at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. In a document dated July 19, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), charged by Congress with […]

In a few years, the Department of Energy could make its practices for categorizing hazards found in nuclear facilities a formal federal rule, the agency wrote in a recent letter to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. DOE would not begin the rulemaking until 2025 at the earliest, according to the June 27 letter to […]

In a few years, the Department of Energy could make its practices for categorizing hazards found in nuclear facilities a formal federal rule, the agency wrote in a recent letter to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. DOE would not begin the rulemaking until 2025 at the earliest, according to the June 27 letter to […]

The Congressionally-created safety watchdog for nuclear defense facilities was not denied access to any Department of Energy records or personnel during the first six months of 2022. In a regular update to Congress, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said July 1 that the Secretary of Energy did not deny any written requests for […]

The Congressionally-created safety watchdog for nuclear defense facilities was not denied access to any Department of Energy records or personnel during the first six months of 2022. In a regular update to Congress, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said July 1 that the Secretary of Energy did not deny any written requests for […]

The Congressionally-created safety watchdog for nuclear defense facilities was not denied access to any Department of Energy records or personnel during the first six months of 2022. In a regular update to Congress, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said July 1 that the Secretary of Energy did not deny any written requests for […]

A House Appropriations subcommittee recommends funding the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board at $41.4 million in fiscal 2023, the amount sought by the President Joe Biden administration and more than $5 million more than the safety watchdog received for fiscal 2022. The funding plan is included in the Energy and Water Development subcommittee’s bill report […]

The House Appropriations Committee this week recommended funding the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board at $41.4 million in fiscal 2023, the amount sought by the Joe Biden administration and over $5 million more than the federal nuclear watchdog received for fiscal 2022. The funding plan, approved Tuesday by the committee in a party-line vote, was […]

A House Appropriations subcommittee recommends funding the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board at $41.4 million in fiscal 2023, the amount sought by the President Joe Biden administration and more than $5 million more than the safety watchdog received for fiscal 2022. The funding plan is included in the Energy and Water Development subcommittee’s bill report […]

The Department of Energy and the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board this week wrapped up key details of a memorandum of understanding they inked in February pledging full cooperation on safety at federal nuclear-weapons installations. The 19-page supplement announced by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) in a Wednesday press release fleshes out specifics […]

The Department of Energy and the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board this week wrapped up key details of a memorandum of understanding they inked in February pledging full cooperation on safety at federal nuclear-weapons installations. The 19-page supplement announced by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) in a Wednesday press release fleshes out specifics […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says continued storage of potentially-combustible transuranic waste at Waste Control Specialists in Andrews County, Texas until Dec, 31, 2024, should not result in a significant environmental impact. The Friday finding of no significant impact in the Federal Register clears the way for continued stopgap storage of up to 74 remaining containers […]

The on-again, off-again demonstration run of the Department of Energy’s Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at the Idaho National Laboratory should be on again in June, according to a federal nuclear-safety overseer. After an outage during March and April, the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) was to begin heating up in early May, according to a […]

Andrew Kline joined the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board on Monday as an on-site inspector for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C., the board announced Monday. Kline was previously a design engineer, operations process manager and project manager at the Savannah River Site, a former Cold War plutonium production complex with […]

Andrew Kline joined the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board on Monday as an on-site inspector for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C., the board announced Monday. Kline was previously a design engineer, operations process manager and project manager at the Savannah River Site, a former Cold War plutonium production complex with […]

Andrew Kline joined the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board on Monday as an on-site inspector for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C., the board announced Monday. Kline was previously a design engineer, operations process manager and project manager at the Savannah River Site, a former Cold War plutonium production complex with […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board this week added three new resident inspectors to monitor safety at Department of Energy sites in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and Los Alamos, N.M. Clinton Jones is a new resident inspector for DOE’s Y-12 National Security Complex and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board this week added three new resident inspectors to monitor safety at Department of Energy sites in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and Los Alamos, N.M. Clinton Jones is a new resident inspector for DOE’s Y-12 National Security Complex and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board this week added three new resident inspectors to monitor safety at Department of Energy sites in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and Los Alamos, N.M. Clinton Jones is a new resident inspector for DOE’s Y-12 National Security Complex and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has made use of “Nonpublic Collaborative Discussions” on various issues since being given the option to use such private meetings in the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, according to a recent report. “The NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act] for fiscal year 2021 included a change to the Atomic […]

DNFSB taking advantage of closed-door meetings, according to report to Congress The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has made use of “Nonpublic Collaborative Discussions” on various issues since being given the option to use such private meetings in the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, according to a recent report. “The NDAA [National Defense Authorization […]

The Jacobs-led cleanup contractor the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory has lifted a self-imposed “stand down” order at the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project, an agency spokesperson said Tuesday. The contractor, Idaho Environmental Coalition, lifted the order March 31, the DOE spokesperson said in a Tuesday email. The spokesperson was responding to a Weapons […]

Until the recent past, the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico let its fire trucks fall into disrepair and did a poor job of training firefighters, the agency’s Office of Inspector General said in a just-released report.   While it found no evidence to substantiate the most serious allegations raised about the […]

A container of transuranic waste from the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico was put underground at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in March without a required flammable gas analysis, a federal safety group said. The mistake, discovered by the Central Characterization Program for DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) prime, […]

The Joe Biden administration last week requested a budget of $41 million for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board in fiscal 2023, an increase of $5 million over $36 million from the 2022 omnibus passed in early March. That 2023 request is about a 14% year-over-year increase for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). […]

John (Jack) William Crawford, Jr., a Navy captain who served on the staff of Admiral Hyman Rickover prior to stints with the Atomic Energy Commission and later the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, has died, the board announced in a press release last week. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) was created by Congress […]

John (Jack) William Crawford, Jr., a Navy captain who served on the staff of Admiral Hyman Rickover prior to stints with the Atomic Energy Commission and later the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, has died, the board announced in a press release last week. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) was created by Congress in 1988 […]