Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board

The Southern Bench fire, which burned about 1,000 acres since late August, has been put out by firefighters from the Department of Energy’s Nevada National Security Site and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the operations contractor for the Nevada Site said this week. The Southern Bench wildland fire is now “fully contained and extinguished,” […]

A Sept. 24 article in Weapons Complex Monitor [“DNFSB Questions if Time Made Stranded Drums Safe for Travel”], should have identified a Sept. 8 letter to the Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office as a letter requesting a report. The article relied upon an incorrect reference to the letter on the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety […]

With Congressional Republicans threatening to thwart a stopgap funding plan to keep the government running beyond Thursday, the Department of Energy and other agencies could be forced to suspend operations. The DOE declined comment Tuesday, directing inquiries to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, which did not immediately respond by Weapons Complex Morning […]

Recent problems behind it, the Department of Energy said Friday it is ready to resume taking shipments of transuranic waste at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico after being unable to do so for about a month. Having addressed difficulties with the mine’s underground floor and COVID, shipments should resume next week, a […]

While the Department of Energy’s Carlsbad, N.M., field office believes passage of time has made transuranic drums stranded since 2014 at Waste Control Specialists in Texas safe for travel to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is not yet convinced. That is the crux of a Sept. 8 letter sent to […]

Now that a state administrative law judge recommends the Department of Energy be allowed to continue digging a new underground shaft at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., parties in the case have until Wednesday, Sept. 29, to file responses. In a 56-page report provided Sept. 14 to DOE, prime contractor Nuclear Waste […]

While the Department of Energy’s Carlsbad, N.M., field office believes passage of time has made transuranic drums stranded since 2014 at Waste Control Specialists in Texas safe for travel to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is not yet convinced. That is the crux of a Sept. 8  letter sent to […]

Recent federal employee forms show 90% of workers at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board have been vaccinated against coronavirus infection, a spokesperson for the board said this week. All Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) personnel have submitted the recently-required forms to attest to their COVID-19 vaccination status, said Tara Tadlock, associate director for […]

The Department of Energy redentlydefended a 2020 update to a key nuclear safety management regulation but said the agency will work with a federal nuclear watchdog over its “technical concerns” with the final rule — including as it relates to aging nuclear facilities. The DOE “continues to conclude that its current regulatory framework, as revised […]

Recent federal employee forms show 90% of workers at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board have been vaccinated against coronavirus infection, a spokesperson for the board said Tuesday. All Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) personnel have submitted the recently-required forms to attest to their COVID-19 vaccination status, said Tara Tadlock, associate director for board […]

The Department of Energy last week defended a 2020 update to a key nuclear safety management regulation but said the agency will work with a federal nuclear watchdog over its “technical concerns” with the final rule — including as it relates to aging nuclear facilities. The DOE “continues to conclude that its current regulatory framework, […]

Recent federal employee forms show 90% of workers at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board have been vaccinated against coronavirus infection, a spokesperson for the board said Tuesday. All Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) personnel have submitted the recently-required forms to attest to their COVID-19 vaccination status, said Tara Tadlock, associate director for board […]

The Department of Energy last week defended a 2020 update to a key nuclear safety management regulation but said the agency will work with a federal nuclear watchdog over its “technical concerns” with the final rule — including as it relates to aging nuclear facilities. The DOE “continues to conclude that its current regulatory framework, […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Uranium Processing Facility will start up in August 2025, almost a year later than once anticipated but with months of margin to spare to reach full operational capability by the long-promised date of December 2025. That’s according to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board’s DNFSB latest Oak Ridge site report. […]

The Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., received 26 shipments of transuranic waste during June, according to its public website. Eight were received from the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee but the rest traveled from the Idaho National Laboratory. During the first half of 2021 the underground disposal site had at […]

A coalition of more than 30 citizen groups, called the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, wants President Joe Biden to nominate a Department of Energy assistant secretary for environmental management committed to cleanup and environmental justice, according to a Monday letter. Whoever gets picked to run the $7-billion-plus DOE Office of Environmental Management must have a […]

There has been no big retirement spike among federal employees at the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office during the COVID-19 pandemic but officials who spoke at a virtual hearing this week fear that could change.  The assessment was offered by William “Ike” White, acting assistant secretary for environmental management, in response to a question […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is holding a long-anticipated virtual public hearing today on ongoing safety issues for tritium production and other work at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Witnesses listed on the agenda include the acting assistant secretary for the DOE Office of Environmental Management, William “Ike” White […]

A coalition of more than 30 citizen groups, called the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, wants President Joe Biden to nominate a Department of Energy assistant secretary for environmental management committed to cleanup and environmental justice, according to a Monday letter. Whoever gets picked to run the $7-billion-plus DOE Office of Environmental Management must have a […]

The Secretary of Energy did not deny any written requests for information from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board in the six months ended June 30, the chair of the independent federal board reported recently to Congress. “The Board has no denials of access to information to report in the past six months,” Defense Nuclear […]

The Department of Energy now expects to restart an underground fan at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico by early fall as a means to bolster airflow until a new permanent ventilation system is operational in a few years.  Restarting the 700-C underground fan should add about 90,000 cubic feet per minute, bringing […]

The Secretary of Energy did not deny any written requests for information from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board in the six months ended June 30, the chair of the independent federal board reported recently to Congress. “The Board has no denials of access to information to report in the past six months,” Defense Nuclear […]

Shipments of transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant from National Nuclear Security Administration operations at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico were set to resume this week after being on hold since an ignition scare in February, according to the Department of Energy. “After a careful review of the drum event” […]

The Secretary of Energy did not deny any written requests for information from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board in the six months ended June 30, the chair of the independent federal board reported recently to Congress. “The Board has no denials of access to information to report in the past six months,” Defense Nuclear […]

The federal government’s independent nuclear health and safety watchdog wants to know what the National Nuclear Security Administration is doing to address perceived safety culture issues at the country’s central nuclear-weapons maintenance facility. After a number of technical safety requirement violations in 2019, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) “received multiple concerns from Pantex […]

National Nuclear Security Administration shipments of transuranic waste from the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., remain suspended following a February drum sparking incident, a spokesperson for the disposal site said this week. “Shipments from LANL-NNSA [Los Alamos National Laboratory-National Nuclear Security Administration] remain paused,” […]

The head of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board told federal contractors Thursday her agency could approve a memorandum of understanding on its “rules of the road” with the Department of Energy as early as next month. “We did have a great conversation with Deputy Secretary [David] Turk earlier this year and “it looks like […]

The Joe Biden administration’s $7.6-billion budget request for the Office of Environmental Management was the largest request for nuclear-weapons cleanup since 2015, the office’s acting head told contractors Thursday. Biden’s ask is the “largest administrative request for environmental management that I can recall,” William (Ike) White, acting assistant secretary for environmental management, told the Energy […]

The head of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board told federal contractors Thursday her agency could approve a memorandum of understanding on its “rules of the road” with the Department of Energy as early as next month. “We did have a great conversation with Deputy Secretary [David] Turk earlier this year and “it looks like […]

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board said in a recently-published report to Congress it found ways to continue acting as a watchdog for defense-nuclear sites owned by the Department of Energy during fiscal year 2020. Resident Inspectors continued to perform on-site safety oversight “within the DOE pandemic constraints at each site,” […]