[DOE LETTERHEAD]
August 8, 2003
The Honorable John T. Conway
Chairman
Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
625 Indiana Avenue, NW
Suite 700
Washington, D.C. 20004-2901
Dear Mr. Chairman:
In a July 9, 2003, letter, the Defense
Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (Board) forwarded its concerns related to
assessments of training programs required by Department of Energy (DOE) O
5480.20A, Personnel Selection, Qualification, and Training Requirements for
DOE Nuclear Facilities, in that the required assessments were not being
performed with the scope or periodicity required by the DOE Order. The Board requested a report within 30 days
providing the status and corrective actions, as necessary, of performing these
assessments at all National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) sites.
NNSA acknowledges and concurs with the
Board’s concern. Of the seven sites
with nuclear facilities, Y-12 and Savannah River Site Offices reported that
periodic reviews of training and qualification programs were being conducted in
accordance with DOE Order 5480.20A requirements. However, several Site Offices reported reliance on a combination
of facility readiness reviews, Facility Representative reviews, and individual
functional program assessments to determine the adequacy of training and
qualification programs. Some Site
Offices noted local resource issues and a desire to leverage Subject Matter
Experts (SMEs) and other training resources from the NNSA Service Center to
provide assessment support for required DOE Order 5480.20A reviews.
Additionally, some Site Offices are still
evaluating the scope and periodicity of previous assessments and their plans to
correct inadequacies in their previous training assessments.
Additional time is necessary in order to
provide clear and complete responses to the Board’s requested information. Therefore, an additional 30 days is
requested to respond to this request.
If there are questions, please contact me or
have your staff contact Xavier Ascanio of my staff at 301-903-3757.
Sincerely,
Everet H. Beckner
Deputy Administrator
for Defense Programs
cc:
M. Whitaker, DR-1