Alissa Tabirian
WC Monitor
6/19/2015

The Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration have agreed to perform a joint review requested by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board on safety issues at DOE nuclear facilities, according to a letter sent to the DNFSB last week by NNSA Administrator Frank Klotz. The DNFSB proposed in April a “a joint review of the processes by which the DNFSB interacts with the Department of Energy (DOE) to identify potential safety issues in the design and construction of new DOE Defense Nuclear Facilities,” Klotz’s June 12 letter says. The DOE agreed to the proposal and will conduct the joint review, drawing from the last “eight years of experience” that “should provide the lessons learned to continue to improve the safety review process” between the agency and the Board, the letter states.

The letter designates Robert Raines of the NNSA and Jack Surash of DOE Environmental Management as points of contact for the review. When asked by NS&D Monitor about the timeline of the project, NNSA spokeswoman Shelley Laver said, “To our knowledge no start date has been identified.” According to DNFSB spokesman Andrew Thibadeau, “The participants from both organizations are now beginning the dialog and will design the process and output formats jointly.”