[DOE LETTERHEAD]

 

NATIONAL NUCLEAR SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

 

October 7, 2004

 

The Honorable John T. Conway

Chairman, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board

650 Indiana Ave, Suite 700

Washington, D.C. 20004

 

Dear Chairman Conway:

 

In my letter of February 23, 2004, I committed to inform you and your staff of any further delays in the schedule of two projects at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Partial Site-Wide Fire Alarm Replacement Project and the Waste Management Risk Mitigation Project.  Both projects were funded by Congress in Fiscal Year 2001 to mitigate the impact of the Cerro Grande Fire and potential future damage from similar natural disasters.

 

The following is a brief summary status of the two projects:

 

1)      Waste Management Risk Mitigation Project:

 

·         On February 5, 2004, the National Nuclear Security Administration Los Alamos Site Office approved the Preliminary Documented Safety Analysis;

 

·         In August 2004, the Deputy Secretary of Energy accepted my proposal to extend the completion date for the Waste Management Risk Mitigation Project by 15 months;

 

·         The 15 months extension was to compensate for the time it took the Los Alamos National Laboratory to submit an acceptable Preliminary Documented Safety Analysis for approval;

 

·         Construction has commenced and continues on schedule;

 

·         Planned completion date for the project is the third quarter of Fiscal Year 2006.

 

2)      Partial Site-Wide Fire Alarm Replacement Project:

 

·         On February 28, 2004, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Los Alamos Site Office Manager approved the performance baseline and the start of construction;

 

·         Since the approval of the performance baseline, the project has months delay due to the procurement problems encountered by Alamos National Laboratory and the Stand-down of operations Laboratory.

 

·         The Los Alamos Site Office is working with the Los Alamos National Laboratory on a recovery plan to complete the project as planned.

 

·         Planned completion date for this project is the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2006.

 

Please call me if you have further questions on these construction projects or have your staff contact Mr. Michael Thompson at 301/903-5648.

 

Sincerely,

 

Linton F. Brooks

Administrator

 

cc:  Mark Whitaker, DR-1