10 U.S.C. § 6262: Safety oversight and…

Summary

Require the Secretary of Energy to make sure officials who do independent safety checks and enforce rules at defense nuclear facilities stay separate from managers and their advisors. The independent checks must review facility safety, judge how well program offices handle environment, safety, health, and security, give the Secretary written reports with checked technical facts and clear analysis of whether programs meet goals, and set clear performance standards for those reviews. The Secretary must also have a way to quickly bring safety issues to the people who can fix them. The Department must have enough qualified staff assigned to oversee and enforce nuclear safety at these sites.

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