[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 95 (Wednesday, May 17, 1995)]
[Sunshine Act Meetings]
[Page 26480]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-12279]



      
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  Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 95 / Wednesday, May 17, 1994 / 
Sunshine Act Meetings  
[[Page 26480]] 


DEFENSE NUCLEAR FACILITIES SAFETY BOARD



Pursuant to the provisions of the ``Government in the Sunshine 
Act'' (5 U.S.C. Sec. 552b), notice is hereby given of the Defense 
Nuclear Facilities Safety Board's (Board) meeting, described below, 
regarding DOE's standard-based safety management program.

TIME AND DATE: May 31, 1995, 9:00 a.m.

PLACE: The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, Public Hearing 
Room, 625 Indiana Avenue, NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20004.

STATUS: Open.

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED: 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2286b requires that the Board 
review and evaluate the content and implementation of standards 
relating to the design, construction, operation, and decommissioning of 
defense nuclear facilities of the Department of Energy. Those standards 
include rules, DOE safety Orders, and other requirements. The Board, 
acting pursuant to its enabling statute, has issued a series of 
Recommendations (most notably 90-2, 93-1, and 94-5) designed to foster 
the development of an effective standards-based nuclear safety program 
within DOE. The Secretary of Energy has accepted each of these 
Recommendations. In the meantime, DOE is engaged in a number of 
initiatives designed to simplify existing safety Orders and the 
promulgation of new rules. The Secretary of Energy's commitment to 
implementing Board recommendations calling for an effective standards-
based safety program will require careful integration with these recent 
DOE initiatives. The Board will hold a public meeting to consider the 
essential elements of a safety management program that is standards-
based and to review DOE's progress in developing such a program.

CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Kenneth M. Pusateri, General Manager, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety 
Board, 625 Indian Avenue, NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20004, (800) 
788-4016. This is a toll free number.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Board has a responsibility for oversight 
of DOE's development of nuclear health and safety requirements as the 
transition is being made from the use of safety Orders to rules. The 
Board understands the reasons for development and promulgation of 
nuclear safety requirements through rulemaking and is concerned that 
the conversion process not compromise the requirements-based safety 
program now embodied in the DOE's safety Orders. The Board's most 
recent effort to ensure that the ``good engineering practices'' 
codified in DOE's safety Orders are maintained was expressed in its 
Recommendation 94-5, dated December 29, 1994. In that Recommendation, 
the Board noted the results of its review of selected DOE contracts and 
DOE advisories and stated, among other things, that:

    The provisions [of these DOE contracts and advisories by DOE 
management] indicate that the integrated use of nuclear safety-
related Rules, Orders, standards and guides in defining and 
executing DOE's safety management program may not be sufficiently 
well understood by either the M & O contractors or DOE managers. 
This issue was raised in the Board's letter of May 6, 1994 to the 
Department of Energy.
    Given the situation as described above, the Board believes that 
further DOE actions are needed to ensure that there is no relaxation 
of commitments made to achieve compliance with requirements in 
Orders while proposed rules are undergoing the development process. 
These actions should also provide for smooth transition of Orders to 
rules once promulgated.

    Recommendation 94-5, in its entirety, is on file in DOE's Pubic 
Reading Rooms, at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board's 
Washington office, and on the Internet through access to the Board's 
electronic bulletin board at the following address: gopher://
gopher.dnfsb.gov:7070. It is also set forth in the Federal Register at 
60 FR 2089.
    In accord with the statute establishing the Board, a public meeting 
will be conducted to lay the groundwork for a full assessment of how 
Standards/Requirements Identification Documents (S/RIDs), rules, 
Orders, and other safety requirements are integrated into an overall 
safety management program for defense nuclear facilities. To assist the 
Board and inform the public, individual Board members will present 
their views, and the Board's staff will brief the Board on related 
topics, including, but not limited to:
    1. Framework and Application of an Integrated Safety Management 
Program
    2. Standards-Based Safety Management Practices at Selected DOE 
Defense Nuclear Facilities
    3. Regulatory Approaches to Standards-Based Safety Management
    4. Tailoring Standards-Based Safety Management for R&D Activities
    A transcript of this proceeding will be made available by the Board 
for inspection by the public at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety 
Board's Washington office.
    The Board also intends to notice and conduct public hearings 
pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2286b, at a later date, to assess the 
Department of Energy's (DOE) progress in implementing an effective 
standards-based safety program for DOE's defense nuclear facilities and 
to assure that DOE's activities in streamlining DOE's nuclear safety 
order system and converting to a regulatory program do not eliminate 
the engineering practices now codified in DOE's safety Orders that are 
necessary to adequately protect public health and safety.
    The Board reserves its right to further schedule and otherwise 
regulate the course of these meetings and hearings, to recess, 
reconvene, postpone or adjourn the meeting, and otherwise exercise its 
power under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended.

    Dated: May 15, 1995.
John T. Conway,

Chairman.

[FR Doc. 95-12279 Filed 5-15-95; 2:36 pm]

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