The U.S. Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) would move to keep inspectors on the job at Department of Energy defense nuclear sites beyond Dec. 20, if the federal government shuts down when the current stopgap spending measure expires.
In the event of a government closure, “the Chairman may designate resident inspectors at designated DOE defense nuclear sites and a very small number of headquarters staff as excepted employees to support continued safety oversight by the Board members (who are not subject to furlough) and to reconstitute operations after the lapse [of appropriations],” according to a notice the DNFSB posted online late last week.
That “small number” of support staff and resident inspectors would amount to 14 people, according to the DNFSB’s 2019 “Shutdown Plan in the Event of a Lapse in Appropriations.” The agency has about 100 full-time employees.
On its website, the DNFSB lists 10 resident inspectors who in pairs cover five DOE defense nuclear sites: the Y-12 National Security Complex and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn.; the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C.; the Pantex weapons assembly-and-disassembly plant in Amarillo, Texas; and the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
Fiscal 2020 began on Oct. 1 without Congress having sent any full-year appropriations bills for signing by President Donald Trump. Lawmakers have instead passed two short-term continuing resolutions to keep the lights on at federal agencies.
According to Politico, Democrats and Republicans in Congress are still fighting over how much funding to provide for Trump’s proposed southern border wall, and whether to allow the administration to take money from the Defense Department’s budget to build the wall. Democrats oppose funding the wall.
The $30-million-a-year Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board makes health-and-safety recommendations at both active and closed nuclear-weapon sites to ensure the health and safety of the public. Theboard has no regulatory power over DOE but may make safety recommendations with which the secretary of energy must publicly agree or disagree.
