[DOE
LETTERHEAD]
National Nuclear Security Administration
February 23, 2004
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 follow up
on a commitment that we made to you in my letter of October 17, 2002,
concerning the installation and testing of a seismic monitoring system for use
in the Tritium Extraction Facility (TEF) currently under construction at the
National Nuclear Security Administration’s Savannah River Site Office (SRSO). Westinghouse Savannah River Company (WSRC)
has completed the installation and testing of a prototype seismic alarm system
in Building 233-H, an existing Defense Programs facility at the SRSO. The seismic monitoring system installation and
testing was accomplished in an existing facility in order to determine the
optimum location, correct model of detector for this application, and the
appropriate response from the “in-
facility” workers to the associated alarms. The WSRC report is enclosed for your information.
The results of the testing of this
system have been discussed with your staff during a TEF construction review
that was held in December 2003.
The seismic monitoring system in Building
233-H has performed acceptably. This
same system will be installed in the TEF as a portion of the worker protection
system for this facility.
I would like to thank you and your staff for
the continued interest in the TEF and look forward to maintaining our
relationship during the completion of construction and the testing phase of
this project. If we can be of further
assistance, please contact me or have your staff contact Phil Pizzariello at
(301) 903-7736.
Sincerely,
Everet H. Beckner
Deputy Administrator
for Defense Programs
cc w/enclosure:
M. Whitaker, DR-1