[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 176 (Tuesday, September 12, 1995)]
[Sunshine Act Meetings]
[Pages 47438-47439]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-22770]



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DEFENSE NUCLEAR FACILITIES SAFETY BOARD

    Notice is hereby given of an open meeting of the Defense Nuclear 
Facilities Safety Board (Board) with representatives of the Department 
of Energy (DOE) regarding the Department's standards-based safety 
management program. The purpose of the meeting is twofold: (1) For DOE 
to provide information to the Board regarding the status of DOE's 
review and revision of nuclear safety Orders and rules, and (2) to 
allow the Deputy Secretary of Energy to obtain the preliminary advice 
of individual Board members in identifying any significant safety 
issues raised by the Board's review of draft revisions to date. No 
Board decision will be reached, nor will agency business be finally 
disposed of during the session. This meeting is noticed pursuant to the 
provisions of the ``Government in the Sunshine Act'' (5 U.S.C. 
Sec. 552b), notice of the open meeting is a part of the Board's 
continuing effort to inform the public regarding DOE's standards-based 
safety management program.

time and date: 10:00 a.m., September 20, 1995.

place: The Department of Energy, Room 8E-089, 1000 Independence Avenue, 
SW., Washington, DC 20585.

status: Open.

matters to be considered: The Board and the Deputy Secretary of Energy 
will convene a joint consultative session regarding DOE's standards-
based safety management program. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2286b requires the 
Board to continuously review and evaluate the content and 
implementation of standards relating to the design, construction, 
operation, and decommissioning of defense nuclear facilities of DOE. 
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 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 
to promulgate new and more effective safety rules. The Secretary of 
Energy's commitment to implementing Board recommendations calling for 
an effective standards-based safety management program will require 
careful integration with these recent DOE initiatives. The Board has 
already held two open Board meetings regarding its review of DOE 
efforts to revise and improve nuclear safety requirements. This will be 
the third session in that series. Since the Board's statutory 
responsibility for oversight of nuclear safety standards for DOE 
facilities is a continuing one, additional meetings are anticipated.

contact person for more information: Robert M. Anderson, General 
Counsel, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, 625 Indiana Avenue, 
NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20004, (800) 788-4016. This is a toll 
free number.

supplemental information: DOE has the responsibility to conduct its 
operations in a manner that protects public health and safety and the 
environment. One of the ways that DOE accomplishes this is through its 
rules, orders, and directives systems, which directly govern the 
conduct of DOE's defense nuclear activities.
    The Board has a responsibility for oversight of DOE's development 
of nuclear health and safety requirements at defense nuclear 
facilities. DOE is now embarked upon a transition from the use of 
safety Orders to rules to manage its requirements-based safety program. 
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, 1995. 
Recommendation 94-5, in its entirety, is on file in DOE's Public 
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.
    The Deputy Secretary of Energy seeks early notice of any safety 
issues which the Board may have identified in the draft revised rules 
and Orders. In accord with the statute establishing the Board, a public 
session will be conducted in which individual Board members may provide 
preliminary advice to the Deputy Secretary on matters needing further 
DOE review and to receive information from DOE on how rules, Orders, 
and other safety requirements are being revised and integrated into an 
overall safety management program for defense nuclear facilities.
    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 further public 
hearings pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2286b, at a later date, to assess 
DOE's 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 

[[Page 47439]]
now codified in its safety Orders that are necessary to adequately 
protect public health and safety.

    Dated: September 8, 1995.
John T. Conway,
Chairman.
[FR Doc. 95-22770 Filed 9-8-95; 3:06 pm]
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