April 2016

Lessons Learned from Targeted Reviews of the Management of Safety Systems at U.S. Department of Energy Nuclear Facilities

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environment, Safety and Health Assessments, within the Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA), conducted independent safety system reviews at 11 selected DOE nuclear facilities between 2013 and 2015.  The purpose of the reviews was to assess the effectiveness of line management of safety systems at DOE nuclear facilities.  The nuclear facilities were selected based on risk and included facilities under the direction of every DOE program office managing nuclear facilities.  The reviews were conducted by selecting a safety system and reviewing the system against DOE requirements in the areas of maintenance, surveillance testing, operations, cognizant system engineer program, safety system oversight, and feedback and improvement.  The objective of each review was to determine whether the safety systems were operated and maintained in such a manner as to ensure the safety system can reliably perform its intended function of protecting workers, the public, and environment from hazards during upset conditions.  Reports documenting an overall assessment, including specific strengths and deficiencies, were provided to site managers for each review.  This report is not intended to provide each strength and deficiency but rather highlight best practices, as well as, weaknesses that were evident at multiple facilities in support of organizational learning.