Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board

WASHINGTON — The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) is not convinced, despite statements from the deputy secretary of energy here this week, that the Department of Energy intends to preserve the independent federal nuclear-watchdog’s unfettered access to U.S. nuclear-weapon sites. Energy Department officials testified Tuesday before the four-member board about an order published in […]

There is a diminishing likelihood that the long-awaited Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) at the Idaho National Laboratory will begin operations this year, as had been hoped in some quarters, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board indicated recently. The Energy Department and lab cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho have yet to announce a startup date, but […]

WASHINGTON — The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) is not convinced, despite statements from the deputy secretary of energy here this week, that the Department of Energy intends to preserve the independent federal nuclear-watchdog’s unfettered access to U.S. nuclear-weapon sites. Energy Department officials testified Tuesday before the four-member board about an order published in […]

WASHINGTON — The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) is not convinced, despite statements from the deputy secretary of energy here in an open hearing Tuesday, that the Department of Energy intends to preserve the independent federal nuclear-watchdog’s unfettered access to U.S. nuclear-weapon sites. Energy Department officials testified before the four-member board about an order published […]

There is a diminishing likelihood that the long-awaited Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) at the Idaho National Laboratory will begin operations this year, as had been hoped in some quarters, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board indicated recently. The Energy Department and lab cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho have yet to announce a startup date, but […]

A coalition of antinuclear groups on Monday called on the Department of Energy to rescind a recent order that could curtail the agency’s interaction with the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board: an independent health-and-safety watchdog for nuclear-weapon sites. “We believe the revised Order 140.1 should be rescinded,” Alliance for Nuclear Accountability President Beatrice Brailsford wrote in […]

The Energy Department has temporarily halted salt mining at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) disposal site near Carlsbad, N.M. Mining has gone slower than expected since it resumed in January, DOE also recently told the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). The Energy Department and WIPP management contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP) have stopped […]

William Cooper, the Trump administration’s nominee to become Energy Department general counsel, was passed out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on a voice vote Thursday afternoon. The vote came after the panel’s business meeting was postponed Thursday morning, a committee staffer said. The nominee will now await action by the full Senate. […]

Restructuring the independent federal agency charged with health and safety oversight at Department of Energy nuclear-weapon and cleanup sites will not involve layoffs, according to the head of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. “We are not going to have to involuntarily separate anyone,” acting DNFSB Chairman Bruce Hamilton said in an Aug. 16 telephone […]

Restructuring the independent federal agency charged with health and safety oversight at Department of Energy nuclear-weapon and cleanup sites will not involve layoffs, according to the head of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. “We are not going to have to involuntarily separate anyone,” acting DNFSB Chairman Bruce Hamilton said in an Aug. 16 telephone […]

The lone member of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) to oppose its recently announced reorganization slammed the plan in comments made public this week. In a record of votes taken Aug. 13-14, Joyce Connery — who chaired the independent watchdog of Energy Department nuclear operations during the latter half of the Barack Obama administration […]

The Trump administration’s nominee to become Energy Department general counsel said during his confirmation hearing Thursday the agency should follow the law on establishing a nuclear waste repository below Yucca Mountain in Nevada During the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee session, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) asked how William Cooper would approach the long-planned […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) said Wednesday it will open two new field offices and cut its Washington workforce by almost half as part of a major reorganization scheduled to start in October. The changes will be effective Oct. 1, according to a press release from the independent federal agency that monitors health and safety issues […]

The Department of Energy said it has addressed the problem of transuranic waste drums with higher levels of exterior radioactive contamination going from the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee to the Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. A July 6 report from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, posted later in […]

A recent leak of radioactive waste from a storage tank at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina reinforces the need to properly fund the facility’s liquid waste program, local stakeholders said this week. Liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation (SRR) noticed the leak from Tank 15 in early June and […]

The White House on Friday announced plans to nominate a former Capitol Hill staffer as general counsel for the Department of Energy. William Cooper is currently senior counsel and director in the Washington, D.C. branch of McConnell Valdés, a corporate law firm based in Puerto Rico. His prior positions as a congressional staffer include staff director […]

A contractor at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina has finished moving 219,000 gallons of high-level waste from a leaking tank at the H Tank Farm, according to an update filed by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). Savannah River Remediation transferred the waste from Tank 15 to Tank 13, according […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) is scheduled to meet Aug. 28 to discuss a Department of Energy order that could limit the independent nuclear health-and-safety watchdog’s ability to police the U.S. nuclear-weapons complex. The board has suggested that senior DOE officials, including Energy Secretary Rick Perry, National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) is sending two of its technical staffers on new assignments to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Matthew Duncan will become Oak Ridge resident inspector on Aug. 20, while Brandon Weathers will become an Oak Ridge resident inspector in December, the […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) is scheduled to meet Aug. 28 to discuss a Department of Energy order that could limit the independent nuclear health-and-safety watchdog’s ability to police the U.S. nuclear-weapons complex. The board has suggested that senior DOE officials, including Energy Secretary Rick Perry, National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) is scheduled to meet Aug. 28 to discuss a Department of Energy order that could limit the independent nuclear health-and-safety watchdog’s ability to police the U.S. nuclear-weapons complex. The board has suggested that senior DOE officials, including Energy Secretary Rick Perry, National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) offered no comment Monday on the Department of Energy’s latest attempt to temper the independent watchdog’s insight into weapons-related nuclear facilities across the country. A DNFSB spokesperson would not comment Monday about a Sunday article  from ProPublica and the local Santa Fe New Mexican that DOE approved a new order […]

A sinkhole discovered last month near the 2H Evaporator at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina has been fixed, a DOE spokesperson said Friday by email. The sinkhole, about 4 feet long, 3 feet wide, and more than 3 feet deep, was discovered in asphalt on the east side of the evaporator […]

Elevated levels of radioactive contamination were found last month on transuranic waste drums awaiting shipment from the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, according to a recent update from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). “The contamination readings were due to the decay of […]

Although RSI EnTech did not win a recently announced successor contract for technical support services at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio, company President Paul Clay thinks the 97 percent rating on a new performance scorecard demonstrates the firm’s caliber of work. RSI EnTech’s current $51 million, five-year contract at Portsmouth expires at the […]

In an introductory letter to new Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) highlighted a number of safety concerns across the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup complex. The independent safety watchdog is tracking several issues at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and the Hanford Site […]

In an introductory letter to new Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) highlighted a number of safety concerns across the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup complex. The independent safety watchdog is tracking several issues at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and the Hanford Site […]

Staff at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board still suffer from low morale, and board leadership has not been able to improve the mood, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s inspector general wrote in a report published this week. The NRC inspector general doubles as an internal watchdog for the five-member Defense Nuclear Safety Facilities Board’s (DNFSB). […]

Chris Roscetti will become technical director for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) on June 23, the independent federal health-and-safety watchdog for Department of Energy nuclear programs announced May 18. Roscetti, a naval submarine veteran, previously served as the board’s associate technical director for nuclear programs and analysis, and has also served as DNFSB […]

Chris Roscetti will become technical director for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) on June 23, the independent federal health-and-safety watchdog for Department of Energy nuclear programs announced May 18. Roscetti, a naval submarine veteran, previously served as the board’s associate technical director for nuclear programs and analysis, and has also served as DNFSB […]