National Nuclear Security Administration

April 24, 2003

The Honorable John T. Conway

Chairman

Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board

625 Indiana Avenue, NW.

Suite 700

Washington, D.C. 20004

Dear Mr. Chairman:

Enclosed is the quarterly report for your Recommendation 98-2 for the period January 1 through March 31, 2003.

During this reporting period, the Department made progress toward completion of all commitments, and completed Commitment 4.3.2, Readiness Assessment Report for Fire Protection (Enclosure 4). The Pantex contractor also took delivery of the prototype tooling for W88 bay operations and W78 bay and cell operations in partial fulfillment of Commitment 4.4.7, Accelerated Tooling. Twenty out of twenty-eight commitments have been delivered, and eight remain outstanding.

I propose incorporating the quarterly brief into the agenda for Board’s next regular visit to the Pantex Site or incorporating the status of open commitments into the agenda items where they naturally arise, at the Board’s discretion. The viewgraphs customarily used to report the status of open commitments are enclosed.

If you have any questions, please contact me or have your staff contact Jeff Underwood 301-903-8303.

Sincerely,

David E. Beck

Assistant Deputy Administrator

for Military Application and

Stockpile Operations

Defense Programs

4 Enclosures

Matter transmitted contains UCNI.

When separated from enclosures, this

Document is not UCNI

cc w/enclosures:

J. McConnell, DNFSB

W. Andrews, DNFSB

A. Matteucci, DNFSB

M. Whitaker, S-3.1, HQ

D. Glenn, PXSO

Matter transmitted contains UCNI.

When separated from enclosures, this

Documents is not UCNI

Note: Please call Jeff Underwood at 301-903-8303 for a copy of this document.