SRS shoring up field rep safety oversight program, DNFSB told

Department of Energy management at the Savannah River Site told a federal safety watchdog last month steps are underway to strengthen oversight by departmental facility representatives at the nuclear complex in South Carolina.

The DOE Office of Environmental Management is employing “trending analysis” and improving collaboration and training for its facility representatives at the Savannah River Site (SRS), according to a Nov. 14 report from DOE’s nuclear cleanup field manager at the site, Michael Budney.

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) voiced concerns about the adequacy of the SRS facility representative program in June and requested a briefing. The nine-page Budney memo is in response to that request. High-risk facilities at the 310-square mile property are being targeted for more scrutiny, according to the document.

The DNFSB has sought assurance the facility representative safety oversight is high-quality and not too reliant on DOE staff expertise. Facility representatives play a key role in DOE’s oversight of its contractors, according to a 2021 document.

DOE has “revised our procedure to strengthen our processes, such as trending analysis, facility coverage, oversight, and assessment quality,” Budney wrote. Senior reps are also “partnering” with less experienced colleagues to provide “coaching and mentoring.”

The department is also setting up incentives for recruiting and retaining key people for the facility representative program, Budney wrote. He also said that most of the site’s newly hired field reps already have nuclear experience either in the Navy, the commercial power sector or the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Since DNFSB requested the briefing in June, landlord responsibility at Savannah River switched to DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration from the Environmental Management office. That change, in the works for more than a year, occurred Oct. 1.