Highlights for February 25 – March 1, 2002

The inspection at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is ongoing to include on-site data collection, force-on-force performance testing and other inspection activities.

Personnel Security Special Review data collection activities have been completed at the Oak Ridge Operations Office and will continue at Headquarters (March 11-15). Additional interviews will be conducted at other Federal agencies in March. Data collection activities for the Savannah River Site have been re-scheduled for April 1-5.

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.

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

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

Review of Draft DOE O 473.1 and DOE M 473.1-1 (RevCom action) is ongoing with comments due from the staff no later than March 13.

The Office of Cyber Security is conducting an inspection of LLNL and the Oakland Operations Office (OAK). A presentation, summarizing the results of the inspection, will be provided to OAK and LLNL managers on March 8, 2002.

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. 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.

Staff within OA-50 has performed an analysis of the results of independent assessments of DOE environmental protection programs that have been conducted over the last several years. A draft analysis report has been developed to capture and communicate common strengths and weaknesses in the implementation of environmental monitoring, surveillance and control programs at DOE sites. Several policy issues affecting DOE environmental performance have also been identified. The draft analysis report is undergoing review by the Office of Environmental Policy and Assistance (EH-41). A meeting to discuss preliminary results is being scheduled the week of March 4^th.

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

OA-50 and Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) staff completed the survey portion of the LANL occupational medical program re-accreditation process on January 28-29, 2002. Information collected during the site visit has been forwarded to the AAAHC accreditation committee and a decision concerning recertification is expected by March 1.

Efforts are continuing to revise the ES&H Appraisal Process Guide to make it compatible with OA ES&H mission and directives including DOE O 470.2A and OA management directions. 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 is reviewing comments provided by the LPSOs, through REVCOM, on the proposed revision to DOE Order 470.2A to reflect the transfer of ES&H from EH to OA. The REVCOM comment period for submission of consolidated comments on the draft Order 470.2B ended on Feb 23. One field element requested an extension to Feb 26 (2 working days) to coordinate their comments with NNSA, which was granted. GC requested an extension to March 4. The DNFSB staff is working on their response, and the Board members were involved in the response for this order.

Key team members of the Hanford Inspection of ES&H Management Team completed validation and close out on February 21. Written factual accuracy comments on the draft report were requested.

OA-50 staff is continuing coordination activities with OLASO and LANL on safety and emergency management evaluation planning activities. A site visit with selected OA-30 staff members is planned for March 4-5, 2002, to coordinate and finalize tabletop emergency performance tests, to discuss and collect of safety system documentation, and interface with LANL tenant division management and staff for preparation of R&D WP&C review aspects. The LANL safety and emergency management evaluation plan has been issued.

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

OA-50 and OA-30 Directors met with SC-10 on February 14, 2002, to get their input on the scope of the evaluation at Argonne National Laboratory. The scoping visit was conducted this week. This is a combined review with OA-30 where the OA-30 Director will lead the review.

Office of Safeguards and Security Evaluations (OA-10)

OA comments to the draft Annual Report to the President were provided to NNSA on February 19.

OA response to Representative Markey’s inquiry was provided to NNSA on February 22.

To enhance the process of updating the CAP Status Book, a recommended change to

DOE O 471.2A, and additional guidance to the Facility Officers duties, was provided to management last week. If approved, this new guidance will be used to prepare an update to the status book in March.

OA-30 and OA-50 conducted a scoping visit to Argonne National Laboratory - East in preparation for the May 2002 combined emergency management and environment safety and health review.

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