[DOE
LETTERHEAD]
March 25, 2004
The Honorable John T. Conway
Chairman
Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
625 Indiana Avenue, NW, Suite 700
Washington, D.C. 20004
Dear Mr. Chairman:
The letter is to respond to questions I
received during my testimony at the February 9,
2004, public hearing.
1.
Line
Management – I met with Board
Member Dr. Mathews on March 22, 2004, to discuss issues of general interest,
including a brief discussion on line management. At that meeting, I provided examples of the
flow of direction down through the line management chain and the responses back
up through line management. Dr. Matthews
indicated these were the types of examples of interest to him. It was agreed to meet again at a later date to
have a focused discussion on line management. That meeting will be arranged to accommodate
Dr. Mathews’ schedule.
2.
Waivers to
Department of Energy (DOE) Order 440 – I misunderstood your comment at our last meeting, when I said we did
not give waivers to the Order at Headquarters, and you indicated that answered
your question. I assumed this request
had been answered. I now understand that
you would like an evaluation of waivers given by the field organization, to
obtain a clear understanding of the magnitude of waivers given to the 440 Order.
I will restart that effort with the
field organizations. I do not know, at
this time, the resources and schedule that will be required to meet that
request. I will contact you shortly with
a schedule.
3.
Briefing on
the proposed 851 rule – A meeting
had been scheduled for February 27th to brief the Board on the
proposed 851 rule. Subsequently, the
proposed rule was suspended and a meeting was held on March 11 with the Board
Members and Under Secretary Card, Chief Council Otis, myself, and other DOE
staff present. Since then, several
follow up meetings have been held between DOE and DNFSB staff.
4.
Management
Challenges – Enclosed is an
additional copy of the DOE 2004 Management Challenges.
If you have further questions, please call
me at 202-586-6151.
Sincerely,
Beverly A. Cook
Assistant Secretary
Environment, Safety and Health
cc:
M. Whitaker, DR-1