Board Vice Chair Roberson, Though, Says Judgement May be ‘Premature’
Mike Nartker
WC Monitor
4/17/2015
Members of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board appear to be divided over whether or not the Department of Energy is making improvements in improving the safety culture at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant and across the DOE complex. In a letter sent last week to Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, the Board said it agreed with the Department that “progress” has been made in responding to a formal recommendation on safety culture the Board issued in 2011. “Since the Board’s Recommendation was issued, the Department of Energy (DOE) has taken numerous actions to assess and improve the nuclear safety culture at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) and across the DOE defense nuclear complex,” the Board’s letter says, going on to state, “We agree that progress has been made and that only two commitments from the DOE Implementation Plan (IP) remain open.”
Notably, though, while the Board’s letter was signed by Vice Chair Jessie Roberson, she was the only one of the DNFSB’s three members to oppose sending it, according to a recently released notational vote record. “I do not support this letter. I disagree with the tone and characterization,” Roberson wrote in her vote sheet, going on to state, “I think this letter is premature.” Citing the Board’s plan to hold a public hearing this summer near the Hanford site to assess DOE’s efforts to improve safety culture, Roberson wrote, “The Board’s planned hearing on this Recommendation will help me determine if I believe the intent of the Recommendation has been met, that may or may not be consistent with an IP check list.” The letter was approved without comment by DNFSB Members Sean Sullivan and Daniel Santos.
Board Found ‘Flawed’ Culture at Hanford Vit Plant
The DNFSB began looking into whether or not workers at DOE sites felt comfortable raising safety concerns after a senior executive at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant—Walter Tamosaitis—alleged in 2010 that he was removed from working on the project for raising concerns. In its Recommendation 2011-1, the Board said it found a “flawed” safety culture at the WTP that could jeopardize the project’s successful completion, and called on DOE to determine if safety culture concerns were more wide-spread, with a subsequent series of reviews finding safety culture concerns at a variety of sites and projects, stretching to EM headquarters itself.
In response to the Board’s Recommendation, DOE developed an implementation plan with a number of measures, such as performing additional assessments, increased training and development of safety culture sustainment plans. According to the Board’s letter last week, two of the measures in DOE’s implementation plan still need to be completed—a review of Bechtel National’s contract at the WTP to “implement appropriate mechanisms to achieve balanced priorities and include safety culture elements”; and final approval of the site-specific safety culture sustainment plans by DOE Program Secretarial Officers.
Former DNFSB Chair Said DOE May Be Going ‘Backward’ at WTP
At a meeting the DNFSB held in Washington last fall, acting DOE cleanup chief Mark Whitney said the actions taken to date have made the Office of Environmental Management a “leader” on ensuring a strong safety culture at DOE sites. “I do believe that EM, while we still have work to do, has been a leader in this area within the Department and across our complex to further improve our safety culture,” Whitney said. “I am observing signs that we are heading in the right direction in terms of building a more positive safety culture, not only at the [Hanford] Waste Treatment Plant but across the complex,” he said.
During the meeting, however, then-DNFSB Chairman Peter Winokur expressed concerns over the results of a follow-on safety culture assessment at the Hanford vit plant released last summer that found significant safety culture issues continue to persist. “The Board wrote a recommendation three years ago. There was an HSS [DOE Office of Health, Safety and Security] assessment three years ago. Here we are three years later, and this assessment is basically saying no improvement. I’m just trying to figure out why you think things are going to improve on that project,” Winokur said, going on to tell Whitney, “You’re not gaining ground. You’re going backward on this project.” DOE launched a new safety culture assessment at the WTP and the Office of River Protection last winter, the results of which have not yet been released.
