§6266 Notification of Nuclear Criticality and Non-nuclear Incidents

Summary

The Secretary of Energy or the Administrator must tell the right congressional committees within 15 days when a covered program causes a nuclear criticality incident that injures or kills someone or forces a full or partial shutdown of a covered facility. The report must say what happened and what caused it, whether the facility (or part of it) was shut down, how the incident affected the agency’s mission, and what fixes were taken. Contractors who run those facilities must cooperate quickly. The Secretary must keep a record of these incidents, and of non-nuclear events at covered facilities that cause serious injury or death. “Appropriate congressional committees” means the congressional defense committees and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. “Covered facility” means nuclear security sites and sites doing defense environmental cleanup. “Covered program” means programs of the Administration and defense environmental cleanup programs.