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Interface Manual |
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DOE M 140.1-1B Interface with the DNFSB |
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CHAPTER VII
SITE INTERFACES
1. PREPARATION FOR SITE VISITS.
a. Schedules and Visit Plans.
(1) The Departmental Representative should coordinate with the Board and its
staff, to the extent possible, in long-range scheduling of planned site visits
(exclusive of those pursuant to formal investigations) and should publish
weekly updates of visit plans for the Department's use.
(2) The Departmental Representative should obtain input from Secretarial
Officers and Operations/Area Office Managers regarding site schedules
and facility conditions for use in coordination of site visit scheduling with
the Board staff.
(3) The Departmental Representative's office should provide copies of the
schedules and plans to Secretarial Officers and Points of Contact.
b. Board/Board Staff Requests for Site Visit.
(1) The request for a visit to a facility is normally made by the Board or its
staff with the appropriate Operations/Area Office Point of Contact. The
Operations/Area Office Point of Contact must inform the Departmental
Representative and the appropriate Secretarial Officer Point(s) of Contact
and Program Manager(s) of the request. If the Board or Board staff's
request is made directly to Headquarters or others, the cognizant
Departmental staff member should inform and coordinate with the
appropriate Operations/Area Office Point of Contact.
(2) The Departmental Representative should ensure prompt distribution of the
Board/Board staff requests for site visits. The objective is to ensure that
affected Departmental elements receive as much advance notice as
possible. The Departmental Representative's office or the
Operations/Area Office Point of Contact should distribute additional visit
information and a detailed agenda as it becomes available.
(3) The Operations/Area Office Point of Contact should work with the
requesting parties to understand the topics being reviewed and to establish
an appropriate site visit agenda. If the topics or areas had recently been
reviewed by other Board representatives, the Operations/Area Office Point
of Contact should raise this fact with the requesting parties and understand
how the information to be reviewed will be new or different from that
which was reviewed previously. The Operations/Area Office Point of
Contact should endeavor to obtain a preliminary agenda or lines of inquiry
to develop a preliminary agenda at least 3 weeks prior to the site visit.
Early transfer of the preliminary agenda topics is necessary to facilitate site
visit planning.
c. Responsibilities for Site Visit Preparation, Coordination and Conduct.
(1) The cognizant Operations/Area Office Point of Contact must prepare,
coordinate, and conduct Departmental activities to support site visits. The
cognizant Operations/Area Office Point of Contact should ensure:
(a) local facility resources including tour escorts, operational and
technical expertise, and a schedule of facility activities for the
duration of the site visit are provided;
(b) appropriate communication and responsiveness to requests by the
Board or its staff during the visit are provided; and
(c) affected managers, Secretarial Officer points of contact, Secretarial
Officer Program Manager(s) and participants are kept informed of
changes in the schedule or agenda.
(2) The Secretarial Officer point of contact should work with the
Operations/Area Office Point of Contact to coordinate the involvement of
Headquarters and field personnel within their organizations in preparation
for and conduct of the site visit.
d. Internal Notice of Site Visits.
(1) The Operations/Area Office Point of Contact should ensure a visit agenda
is prepared and distributed to affected personnel. The agenda should
provide:
(a) the name of the facility(ies) or site to be visited;
(b) arrival and departure dates;
(c) dates, times, and locations of briefings and presentations;
(d) names of the Board participants;
(e) purpose of visit, including buildings and programs to be reviewed;
(f) topics to be discussed; and
(g) Departmental and contractor participants.
(2) The Operations/Area Office Point of Contact and affected Departmental
organizations should develop agenda information through discussions with
the lead Board staff member for the visit. If the schedule or agenda
requested by the Board cannot be accommodated, the Operations/Area
Office Point of Contact, in coordination with affected Departmental
organizations, should resolve any issues or conflicts with the lead Board
staff member.
(3) If changes in the schedule or agenda topics arise, the Operations/Area
Office Point of Contact should modify and redistribute the agenda. If
there is insufficient advance notice of a substantive change in the schedule
or agenda to reissue the notice, the Operations/Area Office Point of
Contact should contact the affected participants to alert them of the
changes as soon as possible.
e. Site Access Coordination. The Operations/Area Office Point of Contact must
coordinate security and safety requirements for the Board visitors, including
badging, safety instruction, general employee training, escorts, transportation and
dosimetry. To the extent allowed by local procedures and programs, allowance
should be made for training and access requirements completed at other
Departmental facilities.
f. Access to Subject Matter Experts. The Operations/Area Office Manager, in
coordination with the Operations/Area Office Point of Contact, must arrange for
the availability of Departmental and contractor subject matter experts for potential
discussions with the Board and its staff, consistent with the schedule and agenda
topics.
2. SITE VISIT PROTOCOL.
a. Entrance Briefings. The Operations/Area Office Manager should request the
opportunity to hold an entrance briefing with the Board representatives. The
entrance briefing should introduce key personnel, review the planned activities
and schedule, identify protocols and procedures that will be used, and discuss any
special arrangements that have been or need to be made. If an entrance briefing is
held, the point of contact should ensure that appropriate Operations/Area Office
officials and management representatives from the contractor are notified to
attend. As a minimum, the Operations/Area Office Point of Contact should meet
with the Board representatives upon their arrival at the site.
b. Facility Tours. The Operations/Area Office Point of Contact should coordinate
conduct of requested facility or area tours. To the extent any unannounced tours
can be accommodated, Departmental personnel should assist the Board
representatives in this matter. The Operations/Area Office Point of Contact
should be notified of any such requests for unannounced tours. The Operations/
Area Office Point of Contact must ensure that appropriate access requirements,
such as those related to security, safety, and radiation protection, are satisfied for
the areas to be toured, whether the tour is announced or unannounced, before
beginning the tour.
c. Document Reviews.
(1) The Department must provide the Board with access to information
necessary for the Board to accomplish its statutory duties. The Secretary
may deny access to information for only two reasons:
(a) the person requesting the information has not been granted an
appropriate security clearance or access authorization by the
Secretary, or
(b) the person requesting the information does not need such access in
connection with the duties of such person (see Chapter I,
subparagraph 2a).
(2) The Operations/Area Office Point of Contact should coordinate
arrangements for the availability of such documents as may be requested
by the Board or its staff for review. Departmental personnel should
accommodate, to the extent possible, each request made prior to or during
the site visit for documents or other information required by the Board
representatives (see Chapter VI, paragraph 1b). Departmental personnel
should encourage the Board representatives to use a completed Board
Information Request (Attachment 5), approved by a member of the Board
or its staff.
(3) The Operations/Area Office Point of Contact should determine prior to the
visit whether classified materials will be reviewed by the Board staff
during their visit and verify with the Board's Technical Director that the
Board staff members have appropriate clearance and need to know. If the
Board staff requests additional classified information beyond the pre-established scope, the Operations/Area Office Point of Contact should
verify with the Board's Technical Director that this requested information
is necessary for the Board to accomplish its statutory purposes. If
difficulties emerge in the process of verifying the Board staff member's
need to know, the Operations/Area Office Point of Contact should advise
the Departmental Representative.
d. Site Visit Briefings.
(1) The Operations/Area Office Point of Contact should serve as the
Departmental lead for site visit briefings. The briefings should be
coordinated and conducted in the same manner as described in Chapter VI,
subparagraph 2a.
(2) Notice and documentation of site visit briefings are performed as a part of
the site visit process in lieu of Chapter VI, paragraphs 2b and 2d.
Additional briefings requested during the site visit should be
accommodated by the Operations/Area Office Point of Contact to the
extent possible.
(3) The Board or its staff may also request to attend Departmental and
contractor briefings. These requests generally will be accommodated,
consistent with the Department's responsibilities for full cooperation and
ready access. The Board or Board staff may be involved in the
Department's decision-making process as observers, not as participants, to
the extent that their involvement is necessary for the performance of their
duties and is in the interest of the Department for facilitating efficient
Board oversight.
e. Personnel Interviews.
(1) Departmental personnel contacted by the Board or its staff must cooperate
with the Board and provide requested information. Departmental
personnel should be courteous, open, honest, and responsive.
Departmental personnel should be mindful of their organizational
authority and not agree to take actions outside their immediate level of
authority. Subsequent to the interaction, the Departmental personnel
should report the substance of the interaction to the Operations/Area
Office Point of Contact.
(2) Departmental and contractor personnel, such as control room operators,
who are directly performing safety-related functions must request Board
representatives to schedule interviews at mutually convenient times when
safety-related duties cannot be compromised.
f. Potential or Actual Unsafe Conditions.
(1) If Board representatives identify any potential or actual unsafe condition,
Departmental and/or contractor personnel must immediately evaluate the
condition and implement the applicable approved facility procedures, if
necessary.
(2) The Operations/Area Office Point of Contact should inform the cognizant
Secretarial Officer and the Departmental Representative of the concern as
soon as practical.
(3) The Operations/Area Office Point of Contact should coordinate a response
to the Board representative who originally identified the issue within an
appropriate amount of time. The Operations/Area Office Point of Contact
should take the initiative to inform the appropriate Board representative of
significant occurrences, particularly those related to topical areas the
Board or its staff has been or is investigating. The Operations/Area Office
Points of Contact are encouraged to perform as a continuing source of
information on site activities for the Board staff lead and site
representative for that facility.
g. Exit Briefings. The Operations/Area Office should request the opportunity to
hold an exit briefing with the Board representatives. The exit briefing should
include a discussion of significant conditions, observations, and issues identified
during the visit and reach consensus on follow-up Departmental information
transmittals and action items. When exit briefings are held, appropriate
Operations/Area Office officials and management representatives from the
contractor should be present.
h. Visit Summaries.
(1) The Operations/Area Office Point of Contact should prepare a visit
summary, which includes the following information:
(a) the names and titles of individuals involved,
(b) significant conditions, observations, or issues identified during the
visit,
(c) a description of Departmental action items, and
(d) the responsible organization and due date for each action item.
(2) Departmental action items require approval by an authorized Departmental
official. Approval authority for action items is established either by the
actions being within the normal realm of responsibility for that position or
by specific delegation of that responsibility from the cognizant
Departmental manager. These action items need to be satisfied to
maintain an effective working relationship with the Board and its staff;
they should be tracked and managed at the Departmental level where the
action items are undertaken.
(3) The Operations/Area Office Point of Contact should transmit the visit
summary to the affected Secretarial Officer Points of Contact and the
Departmental Representative whenever the site visit has implications
beyond the specific site that was visited. The Departmental
Representative's office should make additional distribution within the
Department to ensure appropriate parties are apprized of the results.
(4) The Departmental Representative's staff should periodically interact with
the Board staff after site visits to verify follow-up actions are fully
identified and to receive significant comments and observations. The
Departmental Representative's staff should also share this information
with the affected parties. The Departmental Representative's staff should
facilitate communications and interaction among the various Operations/
Area Office Points of Contact to ensure all are cognizant of emerging
Board issues and priorities.
i. Extended Site Visits. The point of contact should arrange for periodic progress
briefings between Department's site management and the Board representative
during extended site visits lasting more than 5 days. Daily de-briefs during
extended site visits have proven to be an effective means to ensure that the
Department promptly addresses Board concerns and requests for information
during the course of a site visit. Summaries of significant issues discussed in the
progress briefings should be documented and promptly distributed to affected
Departmental elements.
3. INTERFACE AT FACILITIES WITH BOARD SITE REPRESENTATIVES.
a. The Operations/Area Office Point of Contact must facilitate the on-site interface
activities of the dedicated on-site Board representatives (also known as site
representatives). This facilitating role includes the following responsibilities:
(1) scheduling interviews and other review activities with affected facility
personnel,
(2) providing access to facilities and personnel,
(3) identifying and resolving any difficulties getting information or
cooperation,
(4) notifying the Board site representative of significant site activities and
occurrences, and
(5) providing for distribution of routine information, such as facility
operational status, to the Board site representative.
b. The Operations/Area Office Manager should establish the policy regarding use of
Board Information Requests (Attachment 5) for requests by the local Board site
representatives. Recommended policy is that documents and information
requested and used by the Board site representatives on site does not require use
of the Board Information Requests. However, transmittal of documents and
information to other Board representatives or off-site should be accompanied by
documentation on a Board Information Request.
c. To ensure full cooperation, the Operations/Area Office Point of Contact should
frequently interact with the on-site Board representative to discuss the status of
Board-related issues.
d. The Operations/Area Office Manager should periodically review Board-related
issues with the Board site representative, along with the point of contact. If
applicable to other sites, the Operations/Area Office Point of Contact should
prepare and transmit a summary of such periodic reviews to the Secretarial Officer
and the Departmental Representative.
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This Site Last Updated: Friday, January 16, 2009
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