No DOE Mgmt. Changes Planned in Response to WIPP Incidents, Acting EM-1 Says

While contractors have made management changes in connection with the current shutdown of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the federal government doesn’t plan to follow suit, according to acting Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management Mark Whitney. In response to a truck fire and radiological release at WIPP earlier this year, URS moved the former head of WIPP contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership, Farok Sharif, to TRU Waste Program project manager and brought in Bob McQuinn as NWP’s new president, among other changes. More recently, Los Alamos National Laboratory relieved four senior managers of their duties late last month due to issues with the lab’s transuranic waste program that are seen as potentially having been a factor in the radiological release at WIPP. However, when asked on the sidelines of a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board hearing yesterday if any federal management changes are planned, Whitney replied, “I really am focused on recovery and having the right team in place to execute the recovery, and I think we have the right team in place to implement the recovery plan.”

Notably, DOE’s investigation into the response to the radiological release at WIPP identified management concerns both at the Department’s Carlsbad Field Office and at DOE headquarters. “DOE HQ failed to ensure that CBFO was held accountable for correcting repeated identified issues involving radiological protection, nuclear safety, Integrated Safety Management System, maintenance, emergency management, work planning and control and oversight,” says a DOE Accident Investigation Board report released in April. The investigation also found that both the Carlsbad Field Office and NWP had “failed to identify weaknesses in conduct of operations, maintenance, radiological protection, nuclear safety, emergency management, and safety culture,” and “failed to adequately complete corrective actions from prior assessments to prevent or minimize recurrence,” the report says.