[DNFSB
LETTERHEAD]
May 3, 2004
The Honorable Spencer Abraham
Secretary of Energy
1000 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20585-1000
Dear Secretary Abraham:
The Defense Nuclear Facilities
Safety Board (Board) was recently briefed on a “safety basis academy” proposed
for establishment at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The intent of the academy is to provide
training that would lead to professional certification for those across the
complex interested in careers in safety analysis and safety basis management. The LANL approach appears to have significant
promise.
The Board notes that the initial
intent of the safety basis academy is primarily to train contractor safety
analysts and related personnel. In a
separate effort directed at federal employees, the Department of Energy (DOE)
is developing Draft TRNG-0046, Nuclear Safety Specialist Functional Area
Qualification Standard. The safety basis academy has the
potential to provide training for both contractor and federal personnel that
would satisfy this standard.
The Board supports this concept
of centralized safety basis training because of its potential for improving the
quality of authorization basis documents for defense nuclear facilities.
Sincerely,
John T. Conway
Chairman
c: The Honorable David K. Garman
Mr.
Edwin L. Wilmot
Admiral
George Pete Nanos
Mr.
Mark B. Whitaker, Jr.