Departmental Representative to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
DESK REFERENCE
Supporting DOE Order 140.1A, Interface with the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
7.0 ROUTINE MEETINGS AND INTERFACE WITH DNFSB STAFF
7.1 DOE and DNFSB Routine Meetings
The following sections present an overview of regular internal interactions amongst DOE personnel regarding DNFSB-related issues and coordination, as well as external interactions between DOE and the DNFSB. The DR uses a couple of helpful tools, including publishing a weekly report to DOE senior managers, the DR Website, the DOE Safety Information Management System, and standing meetings.
7.1.1 DR and DNFSB Technical Director Weekly
The Director for the Departmental Representative to the DNFSB meets with the DNFSB TD to discuss and coordinate:
- Board Related Issues – such as Residence Inspector Reports, RFIs, Upcoming Public Hearings, Board member visits and meetings, and interface issues.
- DOE Related Issues – such as responses to RFIs, reviews of Draft Recommendations and reporting requirements.
- Deliverables and Near-term Correspondence to the Board and from the Board
- Upcoming Interface Meetings (such as EM and NNSA Bi-weekly’s)
- DNFSB Member and Board staff Travel
The weekly coordination call is intended to ensure that the DR staff and Program Interface personnel are aware of current and pending DOE-DNFSB activities, including:
- Briefings,
- Staff-to-staff discussions,
- DOE deliverables, and
- Potential Board correspondence.
The DR typically holds a monthly call with both the respective DOE Program Interface and Departmental Site Liaisons. The purpose is to provide an overall status of activities with the DNFSB, share lessons learned and interface guidance that may be useful to specific sites or across the DOE Complex, and solicit feedback from the field regarding on-going interface with the DNFSB and staff.
7.1.4 DOE/NNSA Program Interface and DNFSB Bi-weekly Meeting:
To facilitate good communications and provide Departmental perspectives addressing on-going activities and potential issues, the DR staff and the respective Program Interface meet bi-weekly with the respective DNFSB Associate TD and relevant DNFSB staff. The agenda is developed between DOE and DNFSB that provides the basis for the discussion. Currently NNSA and EM hold separate meetings on alternating weeks, as their schedules permit.
7.2 DR Near Term Report
The DR office issues an internal weekly Near Term Report of DNFSB Topics and Issues, including a summary of meetings, call and interactions with the DNFSB. It includes relevant correspondence and status of ongoing DOE responses to DNFSB RFI or letters.
7.3 DNFSB Resident Inspectors
DNFSB Resident Inspectors are stationed at Pantex, Y-12/ORNL, SRS, LANL, and Hanford and are routinely involved with daily DOE/NNSA federal and contractor interactions, site and facility walk-downs, access to DOE databases and site procedures, and observation of DOE/NNSA formal reviews, as well as leading and/or participating in DNFSB reviews Formal reviews may or may not involve other DNFSB personnel from either DNFSB Headquarters or other DOE sites. In all cases the Resident Inspectors are the same as any other member of the DNFSB staff and the same protocols for RFI and meetings should apply.
For Resident Inspector Weekly Reports, the Departmental Site Liaison should ensure the documents are properly reviewed, marked, and processed per DOE Orders for classification and public release. Departmental Site Liaisons are encouraged to forward the draft reports to program owners and Program Interfaces as well as other affected DOE elements for review prior to release.
7.4 DNFSB Cognizant Engineer
The DNFSB Cognizant Engineers (COGs), located at the DNFSB Headquarters, are the primary point of contact with the Department for a particular topic and/or site. All sites have a DNFSB COG, however, for DOE sites without Resident Inspectors (INL, LLNL, NNSS, SNL, and WIPP) the Board has assigned a COG to maintain awareness of site activities, to include regular discussions with the Departmental Site Liaisons and conduct periodic site visits.
Similar to the Resident Inspector Weekly Reports, the site COGs develop Monthly Reports of site activities which the Board makes available to the public on its website. The Departmental Site Liaison should ensure the draft reports are properly reviewed, marked and processed per DOE Orders for classification and public release. The Site Liaisons are encouraged to forward the draft reports to program owners and Program Interfaces as well as other affected DOE elements for review prior to release. Since the Monthly Reports are generated at DNFSB Headquarters, the Board relies on the DOE Office of Classification to conduct classification reviews.
The site COG or COG for a specific topic (e.g., a project or issue) will typically transmit requests for information on behalf of Board members or DNFSB staff pertaining to his/her area of responsibility and will track these requests through to completion. In addition, the COG maintains an operational awareness of the site, facilities, as well as recommendations and reporting requirements established by the Board. The COG may also coordinate site visits by Board members and DNFSB staff. COGs should be appraised of local site processes and procedures for interfacing with Federal and contractor staff.
7.5 DNFSB Staff Oversight Reviews
The Board staff generates, and the Board members approve, a work plan for each Fiscal Year. The work plan provides the Board’s expected site or project reviews, public meetings or hearings, and special studies, to the best of their planning ability.
For oversight reviews, the DNFSB COG may request information (as discussed in Section 3.0) in order to help the DNFSB staff review team prepare the review agenda and lines of inquiry (LOIs). The Departmental Site Liaison should coordinate with the COG as soon as the oversight review time frame is determined to ensure the Department is available and able to support the review.
Prior to oversight visits, the DNFSB staff, typically the COG or review lead, will provide LOIs to the Departmental Site Liaison and appropriate site personnel. Departmental Site Liaisons should coordinate a federal review of the LOIs to determine what they are prepared to discuss with DNFSB staff and communicate what will and will not be addressed to the DNFSB staff. This should be followed up by a staff to staff phone call to ensure both the DNFSB staff and the Department has a chance to voice their concerns or questions regarding the LOIs as the DNFSB staff develop a final agenda.
Reviews should be held at mutually agreeable times. At the end of a large review, the DNFSB staff should communicate any potential safety items to Federal and contractor staff before the staff leaves the site or completes the initial review. The DNFSB staff typically schedules a factual accuracy discussion of the oversight review to communicate any observations or clarify any information. DNFSB staff will conduct their factual accuracy discussion with the Department prior to briefing the Board members on their potential safety items and observations. The DNFSB oversight reviews may result in a Board letter to DOE to formally document and communicate the Board’s oversight activities. The Board letter often transmits the DNFSB staff report, and may contain a reporting requirement for a briefing.
7.5.1 Example of Good Practices to Manage LOIs at DOE-SR:
The Savannah River Operations Office (DOE-SR) receives frequent LOIs, often related to upcoming or potential staff visits (including staff calls and Video Teleconferences). These staff visits are more frequent and less formal than a visit by the actual Board or Board members. To minimize the diversion of large numbers of contractor assets to answer DNFSB Staff LOIs, DOE-SR has implemented some good practices as detailed in Attachment 6.
