For now at least, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has suspended publication of many of the congressional watchdog’s routine reports on safety and operations at Department of Energy nuclear sites.
“The DNFSB is not currently posting technical documents, such as resident inspector weekly, site monthly and other technical reports, while the board works with DOE on the document sensitivity review process,” the board said recently on its website.
The brief announcement was posted alongside a link to DNFSB’s July report to Congress. In the document, which Exchange Monitor recently reported on, DNFSB said DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and Office of Environmental Management are denying access to DOE records, meetings and staff concerning safety of DOE nuclear defense facilities. In the document, DNFSB went on to say that not only is DOE blocking safety board access to information it has long been privy to, but also violating terms of the board’s enabling legislation and a 2022 memorandum of understanding between DOE and the board.
DNFSB was “created by Congress in 1988 to provide advice and recommendations to the secretary of energy regarding public health and safety at the defense nuclear facilities” run by DOE, according to a history of DNFSB. While it lacks regulatory authority to cite DOE for violations, it makes public recommendations to DOE, which DOE must then publicly respond to.
Set up as a five-member panel of experts nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, DNFSB is down to only one board member, Patricia Lee.