[DOE
LETTERHEAD]
November 10, 2004
The Honorable John T. Conway
Chairman
Defense Nuclear Facilities
Safety Board
625 Indiana Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20004-2941
Dear Mr. Chairman:
The Secretary’s July 11, 2003
letter to you reported the status of implementation of protocols for testing
High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters at defense nuclear facilities. In that letter the Department also committed
to addressing the recommended changes to HEPA filter standards resulting from
assessments of the HEPA Filter Test Facility operation. With the issuance of the revised Department of
Energy (DOE) Nuclear Air Cleaning Handbook, the Department is ready to review
the four HEPA related standards in accordance with established procedures for
revising DOE Technical Standards. These
efforts are scheduled to coincide with ongoing transfer of the filter testing
function for the Department to the Office of Quality Assurance Programs.
The purpose of this letter is to
provide you with the schedule for revising the following four DOE technical
standards:
DOE-STD-3020-97, Specification for HEPA
Filters Used by DOE Contractors
DOE-STD-3022-98, DOE HEPA Filter Test
Program
DOE-STD-3025-99, Quality Assurance
Inspection and Testing of HEPA Filters
DOE-STD-3026-99, Filter Test Facility
Quality Program Plan
The Office of Quality Assurance
Programs will utilize a team of HEPA filter technical experts to perform a
comprehensive review of the standards and incorporate information from the
Nuclear Air Cleaning Handbook and other applicable national consensus standards
as well as information gathered from various assessments. The revised standards will be issued as per
the enclosed schedule. We are looking
forward to working with your staff in revising the standards.
If you have any questions,
please contact me or have your staff contact Richard H. Lagdon, Director Office of
Quality Assurance Programs, at (301) 903-4218.
Sincerely,
John Spitaleri Shaw
Acting Assistant Secretary
Office of Environment, Safety
and Health
cc:
David K. Garman, S-3
Mark B. Whitaker, DR-1
Frank B. Russo, EH-3
Richard H. Lagdon, EH-31