Nuclear Safety

Unresolved Issues Could Impair DOE's Oversight Effectiveness Gao ID: RCED-94-129 June 7, 1994

In April 1993, the Energy Department (DOE) announced the transfer of the oversight functions of its Office of Nuclear Safety to the Office of Environment, Safety and Health as part of a broader streamlining of the entire agency. This report reviews DOE's restructuring of nuclear safety oversight and evaluates whether the proposed changes would improve or detract from DOE's ability to ensure nuclear safety. GAO (1) determines the process DOE used in deciding to consolidate the two offices and (2) identifies issues that could influence the effectiveness of the nuclear safety oversight carried out by the Office of Environment, Safety and Health.

GAO found that: (1) DOE has not evaluated the potential impact of consolidating the Nuclear Safety and ES&H Offices; (2) the DOE restructuring plan is based on the Secretary's organizational management and structure views and is intended to streamline DOE safety and health oversight activities; (3) DOE will attempt to strengthen the ES&H Office by requiring the ES&H Assistant Secretary to report directly to the Secretary; (4) the DOE organization responsible for the independent oversight of nuclear safety must have adequate authority, independence from line management, and an adequate number of technically qualified staff to be effective; (5) although the ES&H Office has the authority to suspend operations in cases of imminent danger, it does not have a systematic approach to elevate safety issues up the chain of command to ensure their resolution; (6) ES&H may not be able to take adequate or timely action to resolve safety issues identified by the Office or have adequate independence without a line management process; and (7) although the ES&H Office plans to increase its overall staffing level, it is not clear whether the Office will allocate adequate qualified staff to effectively carry out its nuclear safety oversight and enforcement functions.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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