[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 176 (Tuesday, September 12, 1995)]
[Sunshine Act Meetings]
[Pages 47438-47439]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-22770]
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DEFENSE NUCLEAR FACILITIES SAFETY BOARD
Notice is hereby given of an open meeting of the Defense Nuclear
Facilities Safety Board (Board) with representatives of the Department
of Energy (DOE) regarding the Department's standards-based safety
management program. The purpose of the meeting is twofold: (1) For DOE
to provide information to the Board regarding the status of DOE's
review and revision of nuclear safety Orders and rules, and (2) to
allow the Deputy Secretary of Energy to obtain the preliminary advice
of individual Board members in identifying any significant safety
issues raised by the Board's review of draft revisions to date. No
Board decision will be reached, nor will agency business be finally
disposed of during the session. This meeting is noticed pursuant to the
provisions of the ``Government in the Sunshine Act'' (5 U.S.C.
Sec. 552b), notice of the open meeting is a part of the Board's
continuing effort to inform the public regarding DOE's standards-based
safety management program.
time and date: 10:00 a.m., September 20, 1995.
place: The Department of Energy, Room 8E-089, 1000 Independence Avenue,
SW., Washington, DC 20585.
status: Open.
matters to be considered: The Board and the Deputy Secretary of Energy
will convene a joint consultative session regarding DOE's standards-
based safety management program. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2286b requires the
Board to continuously review and evaluate the content and
implementation of standards relating to the design, construction,
operation, and decommissioning of defense nuclear facilities of DOE.
Those standards include rules, DOE safety Orders, and other
requirements. The Board, acting pursuant to its enabling statute, has
issued a series of recommendations (most notably 90-2 and 94-5)
designed to foster the development of an effective standards-based
nuclear safety program within DOE. The Secretary of Energy has accepted
each of these recommendations. In the meantime, DOE is engaged in a
number of initiatives designed to simplify existing safety Orders and
to promulgate new and more effective safety rules. The Secretary of
Energy's commitment to implementing Board recommendations calling for
an effective standards-based safety management program will require
careful integration with these recent DOE initiatives. The Board has
already held two open Board meetings regarding its review of DOE
efforts to revise and improve nuclear safety requirements. This will be
the third session in that series. Since the Board's statutory
responsibility for oversight of nuclear safety standards for DOE
facilities is a continuing one, additional meetings are anticipated.
contact person for more information: Robert M. Anderson, General
Counsel, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, 625 Indiana Avenue,
NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20004, (800) 788-4016. This is a toll
free number.
supplemental information: DOE has the responsibility to conduct its
operations in a manner that protects public health and safety and the
environment. One of the ways that DOE accomplishes this is through its
rules, orders, and directives systems, which directly govern the
conduct of DOE's defense nuclear activities.
The Board has a responsibility for oversight of DOE's development
of nuclear health and safety requirements at defense nuclear
facilities. DOE is now embarked upon a transition from the use of
safety Orders to rules to manage its requirements-based safety program.
The Board's most recent effort to ensure that the ``good engineering
practices'' codified in DOE's safety Orders are maintained was
expressed in its Recommendation 94-5, dated December 29, 1995.
Recommendation 94-5, in its entirety, is on file in DOE's Public
Reading Rooms, at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board's
Washington office, and on the Internet through access to the Board's
electronic bulletin board at the following address: gopher://
gopher.dnfsb.gov:7070. It is also set forth in the Federal Register at
60 FR 2089.
The Deputy Secretary of Energy seeks early notice of any safety
issues which the Board may have identified in the draft revised rules
and Orders. In accord with the statute establishing the Board, a public
session will be conducted in which individual Board members may provide
preliminary advice to the Deputy Secretary on matters needing further
DOE review and to receive information from DOE on how rules, Orders,
and other safety requirements are being revised and integrated into an
overall safety management program for defense nuclear facilities.
A transcript of this proceeding will be made available by the Board
for inspection by the public at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety
Board's Washington office.
The Board also intends to notice and conduct further public
hearings pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2286b, at a later date, to assess
DOE's progress in implementing an effective standards-based safety
program for DOE's defense nuclear facilities and to assure that DOE's
activities in streamlining DOE's nuclear safety order system and
converting to a regulatory program do not eliminate the engineering
practices
[[Page 47439]]
now codified in its safety Orders that are necessary to adequately
protect public health and safety.
Dated: September 8, 1995.
John T. Conway,
Chairman.
[FR Doc. 95-22770 Filed 9-8-95; 3:06 pm]
BILLING CODE 3670-01-M
