[DNFSB LETTERHEAD]
August 14, 2003
The Honorable Spencer Abraham
Secretary of Energy
1000 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20585-1000
Dear Secretary Abraham:
The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
(Board) has received your letter dated July 11, 2003, enclosing the Department
of Energy’s (DOE) response to the Board’s January 9, 2003, letter concerning
testing of High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters. The Board has reviewed the response and is pleased
to note your continued commitment to performing 100 percent testing at the
Filter Testing Facility (FTF) of HEPA filters that will be used in
safety-related applications.
However, the Board notes that, contrary to
your previous direction, 11 percent of the HEPA filters recently installed in
safety-significant systems in facilities at the Savannah River Site (SRS) did
not go through the FTF. This situation
is of particular concern considering that the FTF annually rejects for physical
and performance-related defects a significant number of filters that have
already passed the vendor’s tests and inspections. While the majority of these defects are discovered by visual
inspection, many defects are related to inadequate filter performance (e.g.,
failure to meet penetration and/or resistance requirements) and cannot be
detected consistently and reliably by means of in-place testing.
While the in-place testing performed on site
for newly installed and regularly maintained HEPA filters is necessary for
ensuring general system leak-tightness, inherent limitations prevent use of
such testing as a substitute for that performed at the FTF and by the
vendors. Sample point location, flow
rate, flow distribution, and particle size are but a few examples of test
conditions that cannot be simulated or produced in the field to the degree of
accuracy achieved at the FTF. Thus
without FTF testing, defective filters may pass in-place testing and remain
installed in safety systems―an unacceptable situation.
Accordingly, the Board would like to be briefed by the Assistant
Secretary, Environment, Safety and Health within the next 30 days on how DOE is
assured that currently installed filters not tested at the FTF can adequately
perform their safety function.
Your June 4, 2001, letter concerning HEPA
filters requires 100 percent quality assurance (QA) testing at the FTF for
habitability HEPA filters, “e.g., filters that protect workers who must not
evacuate in emergency situations because of the necessity to shut down or
control the situation.” Your letter of
July 11, 2003, however, notes that no such filters exist for any of the
Environmental Management (EM) sites surveyed.
The letter also notes that no such filters exist at the Device Assembly
Facility, the Pantex Plant, the Kansas City Plant, or the SRS Tritium
Facilities. The response of the
National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) for Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Oak Ridge Y-12 Facility
contains generic discussion of the site policy for HEPA filter testing at those
sites, but does not specifically note whether habitability-related HEPA filters
exist at those sites. The Board would
appreciate a clarification of the EM and NNSA responses for
habitability-related HEPA filters within the next 60 days. For each EM and NNSA site, please identify
whether any HEPA-filtered ventilation systems exist for the protection of
personnel who must shelter or continue operations in nuclear or non-nuclear
facilities (including emergency operations centers) following an accident in a
nearby nuclear facility. For those
sites where such ventilation systems exist, please identify the QA testing
program for HEPA filters used in those ventilation systems.
The Board also notes that DOE plans to fund
the FTF only through 2005. As offered
in your letter of July 11, 2003, the Board would like to be informed of DOE’s
plans for HEPA filter testing prior to any changes in HEPA filter testing
protocols, including deactivation of the FTF.
Sincerely,
John T. Conway
c:
The Honorable Linton Brooks
The Honorable Jessie Hill Roberson
The Honorable Beverly Ann Cook
Mr. Jeffrey M. Allison
Mr. Mark B. Whitaker, Jr.