[SOE LETTERHEAD]
June 10, 2005
The Honorable A. J. Eggenberger
Acting Chairman
Defense Nuclear Facilities
Safety Board
625 Indiana Avenue, NW, Suite
700
Washington, D.C. 20004
Dear Dr. Eggenberger:
The Department is pleased to
forward its revised Implementation Plan (Plan) in response to the Board’s
Recommendation 2004-1, Oversight of Complex, High-Hazard
Nuclear Operations. The revisions to the Plan add
more detail, especially with respect to the Central Technical Authorities and
the Office of Nuclear Safety Research. The Plan continues to outline the actions we
will take to upgrade federal safety assurance, to learn from internal and
external operating experience, and to reinvigorate implementation of our
Integrated Safety Management program.
The Department remains committed
to Integrated Safety Management as our enduring framework for doing work safely
and for integrating safety into all aspects of work performance. All actions in the Plan support strong
Integrated Safety Management. The Plan
outlines key steps to enhance the Integrated Safety Management program and to
re-focus attention and energy on achieving excellence in implementation.
This Plan is broad in scope and
significant in impact. Many of the
interim and follow-up actions necessary to achieve our vision are not described
as commitments in our Implementation Plan. Rather, these necessary actions are fully
captured in our Project Execution Plan, an internal management tool approved by
the Plan's responsible manager to help our organization in keeping Plan
implementation on target and on track. We are providing you a copy of the Project
Execution Plan so that you can see a more complete scope of currently
identified activities.
The 2004-1 Implementation Plan
calls for periodic briefings to the Board during the course of implementation. I trust that the Board will provide its
insight and advice during these periodic sessions. At other times, please contact me or Dr. Bruce
Carnes, our responsible manager for plan implementation.
Sincerely,
Samuel W. Bodman
Implementation
Plan, Revision 1