[DOE LETTERHEAD]

August 19, 1999

The Honorable John T. Conway
Chairman
Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
625 Indiana Avenue, N.W.
Suite 700
Washington, D.C. 20004

Dear Mr. Chairman:

The Implementation Plan (IP) for Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Recommendation 97- 2 requires a quarterly status report. Enclosed is the Department of Energy's quarterly status report for the third quarter, Fiscal Year 1999.

The Department has made significant progress in implementing Recommendation 97-2, thereby maintaining important criticality safety infrastructure. The enclosed report outlines steady progress in each of the Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP) task areas. In addition, the Criticality Safety Support Group (CSSG) worked on a number of projects during the quarter including development of the NCSP Five-Year Plan and the organization and presentation of technical sessions related to the NCSP at the American Nuclear Society and Nuclear Criticality Technology and Safety Program meetings. The CSSG also provided assistance to the Office of Environmental Management in the review of the Multi-Canister Overpack criticality safety evaluations.

The IP contains thirty milestones of which twenty-four have been completed. Of the six remaining milestones, five are overdue, and the remaining milestone which is not yet due will be delayed because of its connection to the overdue milestones. Recovery Plans which were established to complete four of these milestones were forwarded to the Board in the January- March 1999 Quarterly Report. They are included in Attachment B to this report to chronicle progress; all Recovery Plan milestones are being met on schedule. Recovery Plans for the two remaining overdue milestone will be forwarded to you when completed. The Management Team is working very hard to complete all remaining milestones and to continue implementing the NCSP Plan.

I will keep you informed as we continue to make progress on this important cross-cutting program.

Sincerely,

Gilbert G. Weigand
Acting Deputy Secretary for
Research and Development
Defense Programs

Enclosure

cc (w/encl):
M. Whitaker, S-3.1

Note: This enclosure is available in [PDF].