Summary

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the accomplishments, operations, and problems faced by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, focusing on: (1) the Board's mission to improve safety and health conditions at the Department of Energy's (DOE) defense nuclear facilities; (2) problems encountered in hiring technical staff; and (3) changes needed to enhance the Board's independence and credibility.

GAO found that the: (1) Board, in its first year of operation, established its financial operations, acquired office space, hired staff, and issued recommendations to improve safety at four major DOE facilities; (2) Board's recommendations for improving DOE facilities involved such issues as operation training, safety standards, radioactive waste storage, restarting plutonium operations, and the need for systematic evaluations of safety issues; (3) Board's inability to offer salaries sufficient to hire scientific and technical staff limited its ability to carry out its functions; (4) Board's independence and public knowledge of its recommendations were essential to establishing and maintaining public confidence in the Board; and (5) Board lacked a strategic plan to identify future work priorities to help ensure that its oversight was comprehensive and to make its agenda visible to the public.