[DOE LETTERHEAD]
April 4, 2007
The Honorable A. J. Eggenberger
Chairman
Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
625 Indiana Avenue, NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20004-2901
Dear Mr. Chairman:
The Office of Environmental Management (EM) has completed its portion of Commitment 9C in the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Implementation Plan (IP) to Improve Oversight of Nuclear Operations, dated October 2006. This IP was in response to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Recommendation 2004-1, Oversight of Complex, High-Hazard Nuclear Operations. Commitment 9C is to perform a program office self-assessment of safety function assignment at the program office level. The approved EM self-assessment report is enclosed.
Qualified members of my staff conducted this self-assessment in accordance with the expectations delineated by the Deputy Secretary of Energy in his December 27, 2005, memorandum, which was provided to the Board under Commitment 9A.The self-assessment identified one finding and four observations. The finding is that EM Functions, Responsibilities and Authorities document is not current. We will develop a corrective action plan to address the finding and observations, and we expect to complete development of this plan within 30 days.
If you have any further questions, please call me at (202) 586-0738, or Mr. Dae Y. Chung, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Safety Management and Operations, at (202) 586-5151.
Sincerely,
Dr. Inés R. Triay
Chief
Operating Officer for
Environmental Management
cc:
Mark Whitaker, HS-1.1
Richard Lagdon, Jr., CNE-ESE