§6262 — Title 10 Armed Forces | U.S. Code

§6262 Safety oversight and enforcement at defense nuclear facilities

Title 10 › Subtitle Subtitle A— - General Military Law › Part PART VI— - ELEMENTS OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND OTHER MATTERS › Subpart Subpart B— - Atomic Energy Defense › Chapter CHAPTER 606— - PERSONNEL MATTERS › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER III— - WORKER SAFETY › § 6262

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of Energy must make sure four things happen. (1) People in the Department who do independent safety checks and enforce nuclear safety at defense nuclear facilities must stay separate from people who run or advise running those facilities. (2) the Department’s internal independent oversight must include checking the safety of the facilities, checking how well program offices carry out environment, safety, health, and security programs, giving the Secretary oversight reports with checked technical information and a clear analysis of whether those programs meet goals, and creating clear performance standards to judge them. (3) There must be a system to raise safety issues to Department officials (including the Secretary) who can fix them quickly. (4) There must be enough qualified staff assigned to oversee and enforce nuclear safety at defense nuclear facilities.

Title 10, §6262

Armed Forces — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The Secretary of Energy shall take appropriate actions to ensure that—

(1)officials of the Department of Energy who are responsible for independent oversight of matters relating to nuclear safety at defense nuclear facilities and enforcement of nuclear safety standards at such facilities maintain independence from officials who are engaged in, or who are advising persons who are engaged in, management of such facilities;

(2)the independent, internal oversight functions carried out by the Department include activities relating to—

(A)the assessment of the safety of defense nuclear facilities;

(B)the assessment of the effectiveness of Department program offices in carrying out programs relating to the environment, safety, health, and security at defense nuclear facilities;

(C)the provision to the Secretary of oversight reports that—

(i)contain validated technical information; and

(ii)provide a clear analysis of the extent to which line programs governing defense nuclear facilities meet applicable goals for the environment, safety, health, and security at such facilities; and

(D)the development of clear performance standards to be used in assessing the adequacy of the programs referred to in subparagraph (C)(ii);

(3)the Department has a system for bringing issues relating to nuclear safety at defense nuclear facilities to the attention of the officials of the Department (including the Secretary of Energy) who have authority to resolve such issues in an adequate and timely manner; and

(4)an adequate number of qualified personnel of the Department are assigned to oversee matters relating to nuclear safety at defense nuclear facilities and enforce nuclear safety standards at such facilities.

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

Provisions similar to those in this section were contained in section 2732 of Title 50, War and National Defense, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 119–60, § 3111(b)(1).

§6262 Safety oversight and enforcement at defense nuclear facilities

Summary

Title 10, §6262

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

Citations & Metadata