DNFSB TO HOLD ANOTHER PUBLIC HEARING AT Y-12

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is heading back to the Y-12 National Security Complex, returning to the site in October for its second public meeting in a year. In a notice last week announcing the Oct. 22 meeting, the Board said it would discuss the safety-related risks that go along with continuing to run Y-12’s decades-old production facilities. The Board held a public meeting last October on incorporating safety into the design of the Uranium Processing Facility. “The Board will examine near-term and long-term risk assessment and mitigation efforts, including NNSA’s progress since the Board’s October 2, 2012, public meeting and hearing concerning improving the integration of safety into the design” of UPF, the Board said in an Aug. 14 notice. The two-session meeting is scheduled to run from 8 a.m. to noon and from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Knoxville Convention Center. The second session of the meeting will focus on Y-12’s emergency response planning efforts and the safety of nuclear operations, with a specific focus on “key safety initiatives to improve conduct of operations and work planning, as well as the importance of robust oversight to sustain long-term improvements.”