[DOE LETTERHEAD]

February 23, 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 first quarter, Fiscal Year 1999.

Overall, the Department has made significant progress in implementing Recommendation 97-2, thereby maintaining important criticality safety infrastructure. The following Recommendation 97-2 Implementation Plan (IP) milestones were completed during the quarter:

• IP Commitment 6.2.2, Milestone 2: Screen existing logbooks with original author/experimenter;
• IP Commitment 6.4, Milestone 3: Calculations compiled by the Parameter Study Working Group on DOE web site; and,
• IP Commitment 6.6.2, Milestone 2: Initiate a program which addresses identified [training] needs,

The Department has completed the actions identified under Commitment 6.6.2 above and proposes closure of this commitment.

The enclosed quarterly report discusses in detail the status of all IP milestones and deliverables and indicates that seven milestones are overdue. These include archiving data at Los Alamos, conducting criticality safety training, improving training courses, developing guidance on training and qualification criteria, and assessing line ownership of criticality safety. The Management Team is working very hard to complete actions on these milestones and to continue to implement the Nuclear Criticality Safety Program Plan.

With respect to the self-imposed stand-down at the Los Alamos Critical Experiments Facility, the Los Alamos National Laboratory is committed to resolving safety issues which precipitated this stand-down and is executing a rigorous resumption program supported by mentors.

Finally, stability of funding to implement the IP remains an ongoing concern, and the Department is using the process defined in the Memorandum of Understanding, which was completed in August 1998, to address this issue. I am working with the Office of Environmental Management and the Office of the Deputy Secretary to secure adequate funding, and I hope to report successful resolution of the matter shortly.

I will keep you informed as we work to resolve this important issue.

Sincerely,

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

Enclosure

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

Note: This enclosure is available in [PDF].