October 2005

Inspection of Emergency Management at the Oak Ridge Office and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory

The Secretary of Energy’s Office of Independent Oversight (formerly the Office of Independent Oversight and Performance Assurance), within the Office of Security and Safety Performance Assurance, conducted an inspection of the emergency management program at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in September and October 2005. The inspection was performed by the Office of Emergency Management Oversight.

This 2005 Independent Oversight inspection determined that ORNL has made progress in the areas of EPHAs, integration of the site emergency plan with site contractors, and establishment of the framework for key emergency management program areas. ORNL has incorporated significant improvements in the content of EPHAs and in the processes that define how hazards surveys and EPHAs are to be developed and maintained.

Section 2 of this report provides an overall discussion of the results of the ORO and ORNL emergency management program elements that were evaluated. Section 3 provides Independent Oversight’s conclusions regarding the overall effectiveness of ORO and ORNL management of the emergency management program. Section 4 presents the ratings assigned as a result of this review. Appendix A provides supplemental information, including team composition. Appendix B identifies in summary fashion the findings that require corrective action and follow-up. Appendices C, D, E, and F detail the results of the reviews of individual emergency management program elements.