The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, the safety watchdog for Department of Energy nuclear sites around the country, has issued a new plan for operations in the event of a federal government shutdown.
Congress has until Jan. 19 to pass a budget for the remainder of fiscal 2018, or another continuing resolution to keep the government open for a shorter period of time. However, the DNFSB is preparing for the worst, per a recently released Dec. 6 funding hiatus plan.
In the event of a shutdown, the agency would determine if it was exempt from having to furlough its roughly 120 staffers. Failing that, it would remain operational “as long as possible” using funds left over from the prior budget year. The agency has an annual budget of about $30 million.
“If the Board reaches the point where no funding is available, normal oversight activities will cease, including receiving safety complaints from workers at DOE sites and the public,” according to the plan, required by the White House Office of Management and Budget.
It would take just half a day to shut down the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and furlough most employees, the plan says. Apart from the five serving board members, 14 employees would continue to work under the board’s contingency plan to “protect life and property”: one attorney; one human resources provider; one contracting specialist; one information technology specialist; and resident inspectors at DOE’s Hanford Site in Washington state, Pantex Plant in Texas, Savannah River Site in South Carolina, Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee, and Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
Board Chairman Sean Sullivan would retain the ability to recall staff in case of an emergency at a nuclear facility.
“Three of the five members of the Board (including the Chairman) are required to preserve the ability of the Board to respond to any unforeseen accident, emergency, or, in the words of our enabling statute, “imminent or severe threat” to public health and safety at DOE defense nuclear facilities,” the plan says. “As the Board members are appointed by the President, they are not subject to furlough.”
DNFSB operations during a shutdown would emphasize identifying and dealing with an “imminent and severe” safety threat, according to the plan.
