Democratic Senators’ Concerns Halt Nuclear Safety Board Overhaul

By Brenna Goth | October 1, 2018 04:26PM ET | Bloomberg Law

Backlash from two New Mexico senators has halted the Trump administration’s plans to restructure and reduce staff at the independent federal board overseeing safety at defense nuclear facilities.

Proposed changes to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board that were expected to start Oct. 1 would have reduced its Washington workforce to put more people at sites that the board inspects throughout the U.S.

Acting Chairman Bruce Hamilton announced the overhaul in August, citing criticism over the board’s effectiveness and a need to improve safety and oversight at Energy Department facilities. Those plans came to an end with a provision in the Energy Department’s fiscal 2019 spending bill. President Donald Trump signed that bill into law last month.

New Mexico Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, both Democrats, pushed to prohibit the board from using appropriated funds to reorganize unless the plan is authorized by law. Heinrich and Udall said they were concerned the proposed changes would hurt the board’s oversight of facilities in New Mexico, such as the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant that buries radioactive waste from weapons production.

The board removed an announcement about the restructuring from its website. A spokesman reached by phone declined to comment to Bloomberg Environment.

The halted plans were welcomed by some watchdog groups arguing that the board needs more staff and more aggressive oversight of federal nuclear facilities. The Los Alamos Study Group in Albuquerque, N.M., saw the proposal as an attempt to limit the board’s reach, director Greg Mello told Bloomberg Environment.

Changes Called ‘Problematic’

Heinrich and Udall want Congress to fully vet any changes, according to an Aug. 29 letter they sent to Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chairman and ranking Democrat of the Appropriations panel funding the Energy Department.

Three of four Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board members approved the plan to limit full-time positions and reduce the agency’s size through attrition.

Among the proposed changes were an 80 percent increase in inspectors at Energy Department sites throughout the U.S. and a 46 percent reduction in personnel at headquarters, according to a news release.The number of full-time equivalent workers would have been limited to 100 in fiscal 2019 and to 79 through future attrition.

But board member Joyce Connery called the proposal “problematic” in written comments.

The changes had no justification and were announced without discussion with other board members, Connery wrote. She also said the reorganization would preempt an ongoing study of how to make the board more effective.

The appropriations act provision “guarantees Congress’ oversight role over the board,” Heinrich and Udall said in a Sept. 11 statement.

More Field Inspectors Wanted

Another aspect of the board reorganization proposed opening two new field offices in Albuquerque and Las Vegas. Nuclear watchdog groups said they support more inspectors in the field, but that the board doesn’t need to cut staff to accomplish that.

Facilities such as the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, for example, don’t have resident inspectors, said Don Hancock, director of the nuclear waste safety program and administrator at the nonprofit Southwest Research and Information Center in Albuquerque. That addition would improve oversight, as inspectors provide some of the only public information about the sites, he told Bloomberg Environment.

“That, in our view, should still happen,” Hancock said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brenna Goth in Phoenix at bgoth@bloomberglaw.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Rachael Daigle at rdaigle@bloombergenvironment.com

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