DNFSB Major Reform: 80% More Resident Inspectors
Washington, DC
— Acting Chairman Bruce Hamilton announced today a major transformation of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board’s staff. The reform is in response to a number of studies and critiques on the Board’s effectiveness during the past several years. Among the changes: an 80% increase in the number of Resident Inspectors located at defense nuclear facilities operated by the Department of Energy; two new field offices in Albuquerque and Las Vegas which will provide full-time coverage of Sandia National Laboratories, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the Nevada National Security Site, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Idaho National Laboratory; a 46% reduction in headquarters personnel; a facilities-focused reorganization of the headquarters staff; and, the establishment of a new Executive Director of Operations,or EDO, who will lead the entire agency.
https://www.dnfsb.gov/sites/default/files/document/15591/DNFSB%20Major%20Reform%20rev.pdf
7 comments:
"Acting DNFSB Chair Anticipates No Layoffs In Impending Board Reorganization"
https://www.exchangemonitor.com/acting-dnfsb-chair-sees-no-layoffs-impending-board-reorganization/
“It’s my view that having somebody there day-to-day, building relationships, seeing things over and over again, asking various questions over and over again is a far more effective way to provide safety oversight, which is our mission,” Hamilton said."
Remember Frank Klotz, former NNSA Administrator wanted to hide DNFSB reports from the public. This is simply another way to squelch the independence of the DNFSB, by having them chum up with the contractors they are suppose to have independent oversight of.
The Board is simply paying the price for destroying its own credibility. We're long gone from the early 90s when the original Board members merited respect for their technical resumes. The staff has degraded, too, although there are still a few bright folks among the hacks and recent college graduates lacking any real experience. The Board's descent trajectory became obvious even to Congress under Winokur, who turned the entire exercise into his own personal vehicle for ego reinforcement and would thus sign out a letter on literally anything, no matter how trivial or misrepresented. Organizations can only do that sort of thing for so long before a reckoning comes due. This particular reckoning is intended to downsize the D.C. staff. All the talk about "building relationships" in the field is the equivalent of someone resigning because they "want to spend more time with their family."
DNSFB has long outlived its usefulness. It is redundant and way past being cost-effective. The way to not squelch their independence, and not have them chum up to contractors, is to eliminate them.
"DNFSB Member Connery Slams Reorg"
"In a record of votes taken Aug. 13-14, Joyce Connery — who chaired the independent watchdog of Energy Department nuclear operations during the latter half of the Barack Obama administration — characterized the proposal to cut the DNFSB’s full-time staff to 79 from 100 as an overreach by acting Chairman Bruce Hamilton ."
""Any significant attempt at diminution of the Agency, its mission, or function should be considered in full public view with stakeholders able to make their views known,” Connery wrote in a comment appended to her vote."
https://www.exchangemonitor.com/dnfsb-member-connery-slams-proposed-reorg-independent-nuclear-watchdog/
I believe the budget ($31,243,000 budget request for FY19) that the DNFSB is requesting would be better utilized by investing it directly into the DOE/NNSA nuclear facilities, for example new equipment and facilities. The only product of the DNFSB is useless verbiage. Also, the DNFSB will soon (FY20) claim they need more money to "staff up". Really?
Wow! Some LLNS and NNSA Livermore Field Office folks really don't want anything that smells of independent DNFSB oversight. Big surprise.
Since the DNFSB was created they have failed to prevent any of the egregious safety infractions that have occurred. They are as useless as -------, and were a bureaucratic bad idea from the very beginning. Maybe someone in congress will grow some cajones and shut them down. They are a total waste of your tax dollars. Write to your representative and let them know that you want your money better spent!
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