[DOE
LETTERHEAD]
March 1, 2006
The Honorable A. J. Eggenberger
Chairman
Defense Nuclear Facilities
Safety Board
625 Indiana Avenue, NW, Suite
700
Washington, DC 20004-2901
Dear Mr. Chairman:
I am forwarding you the enclosed
Office of Environmental Management (EM) Standing Operating Policy and Procedure
(SOPP) for delegation of safety authorities (SOPP PS-5.15). This SOPP and the enclosed recent evaluation
of delegated safety authorities at EM sites demonstrate satisfactory completion
of Commitment 9, Deliverable B, in the Department’s 2004-1 Implementation Plan
for Oversight
of Complex, High-Hazard
Nuclear Operations.
Deliverable B for this
commitment calls for the following: “Report
to the Secretary on review activities to evaluate implementation of the
processes and criteria for delegating authorities to field personnel for
fulfilling safety responsibilities and to determine whether all existing
delegations of authority to the DOE Field Offices have been and are being made
using these new processes and criteria”. EM recently performed this review per the
criteria and attributes delineated in the Department’s Deputy Secretary memorandum, subject: Delegations
of Safety Authorities, dated December 27, 2005.
The review included all sites under EM’s cognizance and the EM program
at the Idaho Operations Office (ID). The
results of this review indicated that Field Managers at these sites have staff
and resources with the necessary qualifications, experience, and education to
support implementation of the safety authority delegations received at that
site. However, we found that three sites
were in need of compensatory measures. Specifically, the Field Managers at the
Carlsbad Field Office, Ohio Field Office, and Idaho Operations Office are not
fully Senior Technical Safety Manager (STSM) qualified. As a compensatory measure, a senior STSM
qualified person at each site was identified, by name, and this person is
required to concur on any safety decision or approval to be made by their
respective Field Manager. In addition,
each of these Field Managers is required to complete the STSM training
qualification by January 2007 to be able to receive full authority for safety
delegations in the future.
The EM SOPP (SOPP PS-5.15)
formally captures the required criteria and attributes delineated in the Deputy
Secretary’s letter and institutionalizes the process EM will use for future
safety authority delegations and evaluations. EM SOPP PS-5.15 was approved by EM and
concurred on by the Energy, Science and Environment Central Technical Authority.
If you have any comments or
feedback, please call me at (202) 586-0738 or Mr. Dae Y. Chung, Acting Deputy
Assistant Secretary for Integrated Safety Management and Operations Oversight,
at (202) 586-5151.
Sincerely,
Dr. Inés R. Triay
Chief Operating Officer for
Environmental Management
cc: Mark B. Whitaker, Jr., DR-1