The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has “underperformed” its mission to protect the public from the hazards posed by defense nuclear weapons sites, and the quality of the small agency’s interactions with the Department of Energy has fallen to “an all-time low,” according to a study published Tuesday.
The DNFSB contracted the National Academy for Public Administration to conduct the study, which was led by five academy fellows and began in March 2018. A DNFSB spokesperson said Tuesday the board will hold meetings in late December, January, and February to consider the report’s findings.
The five academy fellows based their study on a review of DNFSB documents and interviews with a wide cross section of mostly government personnel. Among other, they interviewed employees of the DNFSB; the Energy Department; DOE contractors at active and closed defense nuclear sites; the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; and the leaders of a couple of local anti-nuclear groups from New Mexico.
“Examination of the overall volume of public correspondence, reports, and recommendations conveyed by the DNFSB to the DOE has dropped significantly over the past several years, suggesting that there are fewer public safety matters addressed by DNFSB to the Department than in the past,” the report says. “In addition, there is an overall opinion, articulated by the DOE, Board, and other key stakeholders that the quality and strategic importance of board member engagement with the DOE has fallen to an all-time low level.”
Among specific findings, the study panel highlighted board members’ failure to cooperate and collaborate in their work. It urged them to establish a “vibrant vision, strategic plan, and action plans” at the DNFSB, focused on engagement with the Energy Department.
The study was conducted and published as DNSFB employees, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s inspector general, reported low morale for a second year in a row. It comes as the Energy Department has issued a rule that would sharply curtail the board’s access to DOE sites and personnel.
The DNFSB, created by Congress in 1988, has no regulatory authority over DOE, but it may publish safety recommendations with which the secretary of energy must publicly agree or disagree.