[DOE LETTERHEAD]

 

November 29, 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:

 

This is to inform you that the Office of Environmental Management (EM) has implemented the EM Quality Assurance Program Plan (QAPP) as described in my letter of November 30, 2005.

 

I would like to highlight some of our efforts over the past year. EM has developed and is using an interim policy on integration of safety into early stages of design and project critical decisions. My Office of Operations Oversight has implemented a rigorous integrated safety oversight program that includes field assessment with specific QA review criteria. Our field sites and headquarters offices have delegated authorities, including specific nuclear safety, QA, and oversight related activities, as delineated in the EM headquarters delegation procedure. The applicable web-based training to the QAPP and DOE O 414.1C has been completed by over 97 percent of the EM headquarters management and staff. Further, the Under Secretary of Energy's Chief of Nuclear Safety and his staff have completed the same training. Specific classroom training for EM headquarters management is being developed as the next step in our efforts to continuously improve our knowledge and implementation of quality assurance.

 

If you have any comments or feedback, please call me on (202) 586-0738, or Mr. Dae Y. Chung, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Safety Management and Operations, on (202) 586-5151.

 

Sincerely,

 

Inés R. Triay

Chief Operating Officer for

 Environmental Management

 

cc:

Mark Whitaker, HS-1.1

Richard Lagdon, Jr., US