[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 207 (Thursday, October 24, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55136-55137]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-27470]


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DEFENSE NUCLEAR FACILITIES SAFETY BOARD


Sunshine Act Meeting

    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 to inform the public 
on the status of the Board's oversight of the Department of Energy's 
(DOE) initiatives to simplify existing safety orders and to promulgate 
new rules.

time and date: November 7, 1996, 9:00 a.m.

place: The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, Public Hearing 
Room, 625 Indiana Avenue, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20004.

matters to be considered: 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2286a 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. Since 1990, 
the Board, acting pursuant to its enabling statute, has issued a series 
of recommendations designed to foster the development and 
implementation of an effective standards-based nuclear safety program 
within DOE.
    The Secretary of Energy has accepted each of these recommendations. 
In the meantime, DOE has engaged in a number of initiatives designed to 
simplify existing safety orders and the promulgation of new safety 
rules. The streamlining of safety orders affecting defense nuclear 
facilities and the promulgation of new rules has required the Board to 
commit substantial resources to assure that DOE did not eliminate sound 
engineering practices codified in existing safety orders that are 
necessary to adequately protect the public health and safety. During 
the past two years, the Board's staff has conducted reviews of all DOE 
revisions to safety orders and rules.
    DOE's efforts continue, as does the Board's oversight to ensure 
full development and implementation of safety standards tailored to 
each DOE defense nuclear facility's hazards. The Board believes that 
the public interest will be served by holding a public meeting to 
assess DOE's progress in streamlining the safety orders and 
promulgating new safety rules pertaining to its defense nuclear 
facilities, and to assure that DOE's activities in streamlining DOE's 
nuclear safety order system and converting to its new regulatory system 
do not eliminate the sound engineering practices now codified in its 
safety orders that are necessary to adequately protect public health 
and safety.

contact person for more information: Robert M. Andersen, 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.

supplementary information: The Board has a responsibility for oversight 
of DOE's development and implementation of nuclear health and safety 
requirements as a transition is being made from the use of safety 
orders to rules. The Board understands DOE's desire to streamline its 
system of directives. Nevertheless, the Board continues to be concerned 
that the conversion process not compromise the requirements-based 
safety program not embodied in the DOE's safety orders and existing 
regulations.
    During the past two years, the Board has held three Board meetings, 
open to the public, regarding its review of DOE efforts to revise and 
improve nuclear safety requirements. This will be the fourth in that 
series. On May 31, 1995, the Board met to lay the groundwork for a full 
assessment of how Standards/Requirements Identification Documents, 
rules, orders, and other safety requirements are integrated into an 
overall safety management program for defense nuclear facilities. This 
meeting was continued on July 18, 1995. The Board's staff reported on 
their comprehensive review of existing orders and rules, their 
adequacy, and the status of DOE revisions to safety orders and rules. 
Individual Board members presented their views. Then, in a joint 
meeting with DOE officials on September 20, 1996, DOE's representatives 
reported on the status of DOE's review and revision of nuclear safety 
orders and rules, and the Board identified safety issues requiring 
resolution, including inappropriate application of ``sunset 
provisions'' to safety orders, the need for ``crosswalks'' showing the 
disposition of requirements in superseded safety orders, the need to 
preserve sound engineering practice embodied in guidance documents. The 
Board reserved its right to further comment after it completed its 
integrated review of how rules, orders, and other safety requirements 
are being revised and integrated into an overall safety management 
program for defense nuclear facilities. The Board reiterated its 
concern that DOE's streamlining and conversion process not compromise 
the requirements-based safety program currently embodied in contracts 
which incorporate applicable DOE safety orders.
    In accordance with the statute establishing the Board, a public 
meeting will be conducted to assess DOE's activities in streamlining 
DOE's nuclear safety order system and converting to a regulatory 
program and to determine if DOE is taking sufficient steps to assure 
that this effort not eliminate the engineering practices now codified 
in its safety orders that are necessary to adequately protect public 
health and safety. 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 several related topics, including, but 
not limited to:
    1. A comprehensive report on the status of staff reviews conducted 
over the past two years of DOE's revision of safety orders, rules, and 
``crosswalks'' which track the original set of fifty-two orders of 
interest to the Board through the revision process and/or conversion to 
rules.
    2. Identification and discussion of the superseding streamlined 
order system.
    3. DOE's new rules affecting health and safety at defense nuclear 
facilities.
    4. Actions taken to address the Board's concerns that the safety 
envelope currently in place to ensure adequate protection of the public 
health and safety is not inadvertently compromised by DOE's effort to 
streamline its directive.
    5. Lessons learned regarding the managerial tools needed to assure 
that DOE's activities in streamlining its nuclear safety order system 
and converting to a regulatory program not eliminate the engineering 
practices now codified in its safety orders that are necessary to 
adequately protect public

[[Page 55137]]

health and safety at defense nuclear facilities. Specifically, DOE's 
development and use of ``crosswalks'' used to track the disposition of 
good engineering practices embodied in the superseded safety orders.
    6. Further Board actions needed to ensure that there is no 
relaxation of commitments made to achieve compliance with safety 
requirements in contracts while proposed rules are developed and 
processed.
    DOE officials will be present to provide additional Departmental 
views, comment and such additional information the Board may require.
    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 reserves its right to further schedule and otherwise 
regulate the course of these meetings and hearings, to recess, 
reconvene, and otherwise exercise its power under the Atomic Energy Act 
of 1954, as amended.

    Dated: October 22, 1996.
Kenneth M. Pusater,
General Manager.
[FR Doc. 96-27470 Filed 10-22-96; 3:11 am]
BILLING CODE 3670-01-M