[DOE LETTERHEAD]

 

August 1, 2003

 

The Honorable John T. Conway

Chairman

Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board

625 Indiana Avenue, NW, Suite 700

Washington, D.C. 20004-2901

 

Dear Mr. Chairman:

 

The purpose of this letter is to provide follow up to my correspondence of June 10, 2003, concerning Sludge Removal at Hanford.  In that correspondence I requested a 45-day extension for providing the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (Board) with “either a path forward for completing sludge removal from the Hanford K-Basins by August 2004, or a revised Implementation Plan with justification for delaying completion of sludge removal beyond this date.”

 

Unfortunately, I cannot provide a reliable path forward at this time.  I have taken additional actions since my previous letter including:

 

• Recalled start up authority from the Site to my Office,
• Augmented the DOE ORR Team by naming a new team lead,
• Provided him with three highly experienced technical experts, and
• Directed that the DOE Plan of Action be revised to include addressing issues raised in the June 2003 Trip Report.

 

I have included this report as an Attachment.  I have also directed the Richland Operations Office to evaluate provisions contained in the contract to hold the contractor accountable.

 

I will provide the Board an update on this issue no later than August 31, 2003.  If you have any questions, please call me at (202) 586-7709 or Paul Golan, Chief Operating Officer at (202) 586-0738.

 

Sincerely,

 

Jessie Hill Roberson

Assistant Secretary for

Environmental Management

 

Attachment

 

cc:  Mark Whitaker, DR-1

Keith Klein, RL