[DOE
LETTERHEAD]
National Nuclear Security Administration
The Honorable John T. Conway
Chairman
Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
625 Indiana Avenue, N.W.
Dear Mr. Chairman:
In your August 14, 2003, letter you
requested clarification of the July 11, 2003, report from the Secretary of
Energy on High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters. Specifically you asked for “… a clarification of the EM and NNSA
responses for habitability-related High Efficiency Particulate (HEPA) filters
within the next 60 days. For each EM and
NNSA site, please identify whether any HEPA filtered ventilation systems exist for
the protection of personnel who must shelter or continue operations in nuclear
or non-nuclear facilities (including emergency operations centers) following an
accident in a nearby nuclear facility.
For those sites where such ventilation systems exist, please identify
the QA testing program for HEPA filters used in those ventilation systems”.
The clarifications provided by each NNSA
site are attached. In summary, the
Sandia Site Office, Kansas City Site Office, Livermore Site Office, and Nevada
Site Office, as well as the NNSA portions of the Savannah River Site Office, do
not currently have habitability-related HEPA filters. The Pantex site has identified three
facilities whose HEPA filters serve limited habitability functions. The Y-12 site has such filters only in its
Emergency Operations Center (EOC). The
Los Alamos Site Office has these filters in its EOC and three other facilities
and is taking steps to implement fully the Secretary’s
If you have any questions, please contact me
or have your staff contact Jeff Underwood of my staff at (3101) 903-8303 or
have your staff contact the points of contact indicated in each site letter.
Sincerely,
Everet H. Beckner
Deputy Administrator
for Defense Programs
cc w/enclosures:
M. Whitaker, DR-1
J. Mangeno, NA-3.6
Manager, Sandia Site Office
Manager,
Manager, Pantex Site Office
Manager,
Manager,
Manager, Y-12 Site Office
Manager,
Manager,