Nuclear Safety Research and Development (NSR&D) Program

Background

On May 21, 2004, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) issued Recommendation 2004-1, Oversight of Complex, High-Hazard Nuclear Operations. In this Recommendation, the DNFSB identified that as part of DOE/NNSA efforts to understand, minimize and control the likelihood of a low-probability, high-consequence nuclear accident; the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) should take steps to "ensure continued integration and support of research, analysis, and testing in nuclear safety technologies." Accordingly, the Department addressed these concerns in its Implementation Plan to Improve Oversight of Nuclear Operations for DNFSB Recommendation 2004-1 (October 12, 2006), which committed to the following for NSR&D with the NNSA as the responsible organization:

• "Commitment 7: Develop processes to identify needed safety research and development needs across the DOE/NNSA and to determine if and to what extent those research needs are being addressed through current plans and budgets"; and
• "Commitment 8: Develop a method to ensure that nuclear safety research and development needs are identified and integrated into DOE/NNSA programming, planning, budgeting, and execution processes including methods to share the results of completed research and development".

In May 2011, the Office of Nuclear Safety (HS-30) was created within the Office of Health, Safety and Security (HSS). In August 2011, program management responsibility was transferred from NNSA to HSS, in order to develop and establish a corporate-wide approach for identifying, coordinating and managing the Department's existing and future NSR&D efforts.

Key Documents

• DNFSB Recommendation 2004-1, dated May 21, 2004
• DOE's Response to Recommendation 2004-1, dated July 21, 2004
• DOE's Implementation Plan for Recommendation 2004-1, Rev.2, updated July 2011

For more information and documentation on DNFSB Recommendation 2004-1, visit the webpage for the Departmental Representative to the DNFSB.

For questions regarding the Nuclear Safety Research and Development Program or comments on how to improve our website, please contact Chris Chaves or send an email to nsrdprogram@hq.doe.gov.