[DNFSB LETTERHEAD]
April 4, 2008
The Honorable Samuel W. Bodman
Secretary of Energy
Dear Mr. Bodman:
The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (Board) issued Recommendation 2007-1, Safety-Related In Situ Nondestructive Assay of Radioactive Materials, on April 25, 2007. The recommendation emphasized the need to improve in situ measurements of radioactive material at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) defense nuclear facilities.
DOE accepted the recommendation on June 28, 2007, and provided the Board with an implementation plan on October 24, 2007. The Board considered the adequacy of this plan in accordance with the Board’s Policy Statement 1 and found it to be deficient in several respects. These deficiencies were communicated to DOE, and DOE committed to correct them. A letter clarifying DOE’s commitments in this regard was sent to the Board on February 29, 2008.
Based on the clarifications and commitments in DOE’s February 29 letter, the Board accepts the implementation plan for Recommendation 2007-1. The Board looks forward to DOE’s efforts to improve in situ measurements of radioactive material.
Sincerely,
A. J. Eggnberger
Chairman
c:
Mr. Richard H. Lagdon
Mr. Mark B. Whitaker, Jr.