[DOE LETTERHEAD]
National
Nuclear Security Administration
August 6, 2004
The Honorable John T. Conway
Chairman
Defense Nuclear Facilities
Safety Board
625 Indiana Avenue, N.W.
Suite 700
Washington, D.C. 20004
Dear Mr. Chairman:
Enclosed is the “Quarterly
Report for the Implementation Plan Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
(DNFSB) Recommendation 98-2, Accelerating Safety Management Improvements at the
Pantex Plant,” for the period April 1 through June 30, 2004.
During this reporting period,
the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) made progress toward
completion of the 98-2 commitments and provided the DNFSB closure notification
for Commitment 4.4.5 requiring W78 improvements in tooling and process design
and successful execution of all other aspects of the Seamless Safety for the
Twenty-First Century (SS-21) process for a weapon system with conventional high
explosive. On June 23, 2004, the NNSA
granted a Nuclear Explosive Safety Study extension for the B83-0/1 Weapon
Program until March 31, 2005. The B83
SS-21 targeted completion is currently January 2005. Twenty-four out of twenty-seven
commitments have been delivered and three remain outstanding.
If you have questions, please
call me at 202-586-4879 or have your staff contact Ms. Debra Volk at
505-845-5106.
Sincerely,
M. Schoenbauer
Acting Assistant Deputy
Administrator
for Military Application and
Stockpile Operations
Defense Programs
cc w/enclosure:
J. McConnell, DNFSB
W. Andrews, DNFSB
A. Matteucci, DNFSB
M. Whitaker, DR-1
S. Erhart, PXSO