IG: NNSA?s Radiological Emergency Response ?Generally? In State of Readiness

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s program to respond to radiological emergencies is “generally” in a state of readiness, though there are some potential improvements possible, the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General found in an inspection report. The NNSA’s Office of Emergency Operations is tasked with responding to radiological emergencies. “Our inspection found that individuals and equipment were generally in a state of operational readiness to accomplish the programmatic mission,” states a summary of the report. “We did identify a few issues; however, none of the issues identified were in the critical areas of personnel, training and lessons learned. We provided suggested actions that if implemented could provide additional benefit to the program.”

 

The full report was not made available to the public. “The information in the report is considered Official Use Only (OUO) because it has the potential to damage governmental, commercial, or private interests if disseminated to persons who do not need to know the information to perform their jobs or other DOE-authorized activities.  For this reason, copies are not available,” according to a response from the DOE IG’s office.