Highlights for February 18 - 22, 2002

Following the completion of the on-site planning and data collection activities for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory inspection, team members have continued their preparations for the next on-site phase of the inspection. More detailed planning for the force-on-force performance tests continues.

Work is ongoing to coordinate the OA response to Representative Markey’s inquiry.

Personnel Security Special Review data collection activities are being conducted this week at the Oak Ridge Operations Office and at Headquarters in March. Additionally, interviews will be conducted at other Federal agencies in March. Data collection activities for the Savannah River Site have been re-scheduled for April.

Additional work is underway to achieve an acceptable Special Access Oversight Program implementation plan with SO. The initial inspection is expected to occur at Headquarters in March.

Preparations continue for OA’s participation in the evaluation of Savannah River Site security performance tests.

Two actions are underway to enhance the updating of the CAP Status Book. A recommended change to 470.2A will be provided to management this week requiring field input to OA when changes are made to approved corrective action plans. Guidance to the Facility Officers will be prepared and forwarded to management for approval by February 22. This guidance will be used to prepare an update to the status book in March.

Keywords are being developed for the safeguards and security policy issues database to provide additional query capabilities for tracking and analysis of issues.

The Office of Cyber Security Evaluations (OA-20) conducted a planning meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, on February 19, 2002, in preparation for a cyber security assessment of the Colonial Pipeline Company. The review is being conducted at the request of Colonial to provide feedback on their cyber security of facilities that are part of the national critical energy infrastructure.

OA-20 completed a technical evaluation of the Albuquerque Operations Office’s (AL) external network security and has developed an initial draft report summarizing the assessment results. AL and OA-20 conducted a factual accuracy review of the report on February 21, 2002. OA-20 will continue working to finalize the report.

OA-20 continues to prepare for an inspection of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Oakland Operations Office.

OA-30 and OA-50 are continuing coordination with the Chicago Operations Office, the Argonne Area Office, and the Argonne National Laboratory-East. On-site scoping will be held the week of February 25. A coordination meeting took place with the program office (Office of Basic Energy Sciences, SC-10) on February 14.

OA-30 and OA-50 continue planning efforts for the combined Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) review to be conducted in March 2002. A planning visit to LANL to orchestrate the emergency management performance tests that will be conducted during this review is scheduled for the week of March 4.

OA-30 is planning a corrective action follow-up at ORNL to coincide with the annual emergency response exercise scheduled for March 13. In addition to the exercise, OA-30 will coordinate with and observe a line management emergency management self-assessment activity. A scoping visit is being planned for the week of March 4.

OA-50 has designated two staff members to serve as "emergency responders" for the 270 Corporate Center building. An emergency response task force is providing first aid, CPR and automatic defibrillation training for responders throughout the facility.

OA-50 is continuing to respond to requests for information from the Center for Disease Control concerning the 2000 PGDP Phase II Report.

OA-50 staff conducted an analysis of assessment results from DOE environmental monitoring, surveillance and control programs that have been conducted over the last several years. A draft analysis report was developed to capture and communicate common strengths and weaknesses in the implementation of environmental monitoring, surveillance and control programs at DOE sites. After a discussion with the Deputy Director, OA-1, the Office of Environmental Policy and Assistance (EH-41) is reviewing the draft analysis report. A meeting to discuss preliminary results is being scheduled the week of March 4th.

Discussion continues between the Director of OA-50 and various site managers on the Augmentation Program.

Efforts are continuing to revise the ES&H Appraisal Process Guide. A draft report has been compiled and is being reviewed by OA-50 management.

OA-50 staff is continuing its efforts to draft a supplemental ES&H protocol to include additional interfaces with NNSA for appraisal activities at NNSA sites.

OA-50 staff is continuing coordination activities with EH on ISM policies, guides, FRAM, QA Order, ORR Order, and AI Order.

OA-50 has completed modification of DOE Order 470.2A to reflect transfer of ES&H from EH to OA and RevCom process has been initiated. The comment period for submission of consolidated comments through the LPSO on the draft 470.2B is Feb 23. One field element (e.g., Oakland Operations) requested an extension to Feb 26 (2 working days) to coordinate their comments with NNSA, which was granted. The Director, OA-50 and Deputy Director, OA-1, met with the managers from key organizational areas and with DNFSB representatives to discuss the proposed revision.

Key team members of the Hanford Inspection of ES&H Management Team returned to the site on February 19 for validation and close out.

OA-50 staff is continuing to coordinate on safety and emergency management evaluation planning activities at LANL. A return site visit with selected OA-30 staff members is planned for March 4-5, 2002, to coordinate table-top emergency performance tests, discuss and collect safety system documentation, and interface with LANL tenant division management and staff for preparation of R&D WP&C review aspects. The evaluation plan has been prepared and is undergoing final review and comment by OA-30 and OA-50.

OA-50 criticality expert continues to support/participate in the Criticality Safety Support (VCSSG). Activities include guidance on critical experiments and interpretation of results.

Weekly conference calls are being held with Argonne National Laboratory to facilitate planning for the February 26-28 Argonne National Laboratory scoping visit. OA-50 and OA-30 Directors met with SC-10 on February 14, 2002, to get their input on the scope of the evaluation. This is a combined review with OA-30 with the OA-30 Director leading the review.

The Director of OA-50 continues to work with an ERG representative on ES&H performance metrics.

Office of Safeguards and Security Evaluations (OA-10)

A presentation on the OA independent inspection process at the meeting of the Audit Division of the American Society of Quality was made last week.

OA-30 has completed data collection and validation activities for the Headquarters facility emergency response plans review. A draft final report was issued at a closeout briefing for the Office of Management, Budget and Evaluation and the Office of Security on February 15. A briefing for the Deputy Secretary on the results of this review was conducted on February 22.

Revcom training was provided to a number of OA-50 staff on Feb 14 by ME.

The OA FRAM was issued and transmitted to the DNFSB.

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