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[DOE LETTERHEAD] May 26, 2006 The Honorable A. J. Eggenberger Chairman Defense Nuclear Facilities
Safety Board 625
Indiana Avenue,
NW, Suite 700 Washington, D.C. 20004-2901 Dear Mr.
Chairman: The Department of Energy has completed all commitments in its
Implementation Plan for Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Recommendation
2000-2, Configuration Management - Vital
Safety Systems. The
Department has institutionalized the actions taken in response to this
recommendation through ongoing identification, assessment and configuration
management of safety systems, maintenance of contractor system engineer and
Federal safety system oversight staff, clear assignment of responsibilities in
departmental directives, and issuance of a revision to the Nuclear Air Cleaning
Handbook. The Department has delivered assessment reports, correspondence, and
documents defined in the implementation plan over the course of its completion. In
your letter of March 27, 2006, you asked for additional information within 60
days to validate certain aspects of vital safety system activities prior to
closure of the recommendation. The information enclosed should satisfy your
recent request. In
addition, I would note that the Office of
Independent Oversight recently issued Status Reports entitled “Essential System
Functionality’’ and “Safety System Engineer and Oversight Programs,” both of
which address departmental successes and suggested improvements in response to
Board recommendation 2000-2. As part of the feedback and continuous improvement
principles in our Integrated Safety Management System, we will consider these
reports and use them in charting further refinements to programs that address
vital safety systems at defense nuclear facilities. Consequently, I believe we
have satisfied the intent of this Recommendation. Based
on completion of the implementation plan and delivery of the enclosed
information, I propose closure of Recommendation
2000-2. Sincerely, Samuel W. Bodman cc: Mark B. Whitaker, DR-1 |