DEFENSE BOARD TO HOLD HEARING ON Y-12 OPERATIONS

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board will hold a hearing on operations at Y-12 in Knoxville, Tenn. on Oct. 2, a meeting that comes amidst continued fallout from a high-profile security breach at the site in late July but does not appear to be specifically directed at the scandal. In a notice last week, the DNFSB said that in the first part of the hearing, “the Board will receive testimony from NNSA and its contractors concerning the operations at existing Y-12 defense nuclear facilities, including Building 9212, Building 9204-2E, and Building 9215. The Board is interested in actions taken to address recent issues with conduct of operations, maintenance, and work planning; the contractor’s processes for identifying and resolving safety issues; and the effectiveness of NNSA’s oversight for nuclear operations. The Board will also examine the status of emergency preparedness at Y-12 and will receive testimony concerning how well NNSA and its contractor are prepared to respond to severe events and site emergencies.”