November 2012

Review of the Richland Operations Office Oversight of Implementation Verification Review Processes

This report documents the results of an independent review of the implementation verification review (IVR) processes at the Department f Energy's (DOE) Richland Operations Office.  The review was conducted August 13 to 17, 2012, by the DOE Office of Safety and Emergency Management Evaluations, which is within the DOE Office of Health, Safety and Security (HSS).  The review was carried out within the broader context of an ongoing program of assessments of the execution of IVRs at DOE sites with hazard category 1, 2, and 3 nuclear facilities.  The overall purpose of these Independent Oversight reviews is to evaluate the processes and methods used for verifying and re-verifying implementation of new or substantially revised nuclear facility safety basis hazard controls.  The objective of this assessment was to evaluate the extent to which the Operations Office has developed and employed appropriate methods for oversight of contractor implementation verification methods.