NS&D Monitor
5/9/2014
IN THE DNFSB
The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is closing a decade-old recommendation on oversight of complex, high-hazard nuclear operations, but it says it will continue to keep tabs on the Department’s progress in strengthening federal safety assurance. The recommendation, originally issued May 21, 2004, helped revitalize the implementation of Integrated Safety Management across the Department. The Board said that it hadn’t fully verified one component of DOE’s implementation plan regarding federal safety assurance capabilities. “The Board will continue to track DOE’s efforts in this area, especially in light of the reorganization of DOE’s Office of Health, Safety and Security and recent shortcomings in federal oversight at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant,” DNFSB Chairman Peter Winokur said in a May 1 letter to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. Despite closing the recommendation, Winokur called on DOE to provide within six months a briefing and report on the Department’s “federal safety oversight capability and its criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of federal safety oversight of high hazard nuclear operations at DOE’s defense nuclear facilities.”
The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is scheduled to hold a public meeting May 28 on safety culture across the Department of Energy complex. It will be the first of two upcoming meetings on the subject. “In this first hearing, the Board will receive testimony from a recognized industry expert in the field of safety culture, with a focus on the tools used for assessing safety culture, the approaches for interpreting the assessment results, and how the results can be used for improving safety culture,” according to a DNFSB notice. The meeting will take place at DNFSB headquarters in Washington, D.C.
IN THE INDUSTRY
Former URS executive Carol Johnson has been picked as the new head of Fluor-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, the managing contractor for the Savannah River Site, NS&D Monitor has learned, after President and CEO Dwayne Wilson announced this week that he is transferring to another post within Fluor. SRNS’ choice of Johnson as its next President and CEO had not been officially announced as of press time this week. Johnson previously headed Washington Closure Hanford until her retirement from URS last year after more than 30 years in the nuclear industry. In the interim, Johnson has served on the strategic advisory board of the consulting firm Longenecker & Associates. Wilson has led the Savannah River M&O contractor since September 2011, and is expected to leave in mid-to-late June.
Nuclear Safety Associates announced this week that Elizabeth Saris will become its vice president of operations and strategic development. Saris, formerly of Leidos, will be responsible for instituting NSA’s plan to double its revenues during the next three years and opening the company’s Washington, D.C. office, according to the company. “Liz is a great addition to our leadership team,” NSA President and CEO Robert Frost said in a statement. “She brings experience and a powerful set of skills that will help us expand our footprint and further build our operations. Liz’s breadth of knowledge in running organizations and her proven leadership in bringing about strategic growth will be major factors in contributing to the success of NSA’s strategic plan.”
