[DOE LETTERHEAD]

April 3, 1996

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

Dear Mr. Chairman:

Enclosed is the progress report on implementation of Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Recommendation 94-2, for the period from April 1, 1995, through December 31, 1995. Subsequent progress reports will be prepared and submitted quarterly.

As discussed in the progress report, the Department has gained an improved understanding of the actions and times necessary to implement the recommendation. To reflect this improved understanding, consistent with the Secretary's February 28, 1996, letter-to you, we are in the process of revising the Implementation Plan (IP) and plan on submitting the revision in April. We anticipate being prepared to brief you in the next few weeks prior to the formal submittal of the revised Plan. The status table in the progress report shows projected dates for completing task initiatives from the current IP that have been missed. As appropriate, completion of these tasks will be included in the IP revision.

Also enclosed with this letter are the following deliverables associated with completed or partially completed task initiatives from the 94-2 IP that were not transmitted to you when they were finalized:

• "Inclusion of Pre-1988 Source Term and Other Sources of Radioactive Contamination in Low-Level Waste Disposal Facility Performance Assessments," (IP Task VI.B.1) was transmitted by the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Waste Management to the Operations Offices on May 31, 1995.
  
  
• "Interim Policy on Regulatory Structure for Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management and Disposal," (IP Task.VI.B.2) was transmitted to the Operations Offices from the Assistant Secretaries for Environmental Management and Environment, Safety, and Health on July 21, 1995.
  
  
• The Performance Assessment for the Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Site at the Nevada. Test Site. Nve County, Nevada, was submitted to DOE Headquarters for Peer Review Panel review on August 1, 1995.
  
  
• The Report entitled, Comparison of Selected DOE and Non-DOE Requirements, Standards, and Practices for Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal, December 1995, was developed as partial fulfillment of the deliverables under Task VI.B.6.

If there are any questions about the progress report or deliverables, please contact Greg Duggan of my staff on (301) 903-7140.

Stephen P. Cowan
Deputy Assistant Secretary
for Waste Management
Environmental Management

Enclosures