January 2013

Review of the Sandia Site Office Quality Assurance Assessment of the Manzano Nuclear Operations

The Office of Enforcement and Oversight (Independent Oversight), within the Office of Health, Safety and Security, conducted an independent review of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Sandia Site Office (SSO) quality assurance (QA) assessment of the Manzano nuclear operations. The focus of the review, performed on site November 14-15, 2012, was to shadow SSO's QA assessment and evaluate its performance of compliance oversight of Sandia Corporation safety management programs (SMPs) at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) hazard-categorized nuclear facilities per SSO procedure 1304.02, Guidance and Expectations for Nuclear Safety Management Program Assessment.

The Manzano Nuclear Facility (MNF) is a hazard category 3 non-reactor nuclear facility that consists of six bunkers on Kirtland Air Force Base used to store low-level waste, transuranic waste, mixed waste, and material awaiting disposition.