under the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Safety, and

Environment.

This change eliminated the previous split

in management focus whereby the Assistant Secretary was responsible for both safety and environmental oversight as well as for several major outlay programs which required substantial management attention. The change will result in increased management attention to the Department's environmental programs and its nuclear and operational safety functions. This in turn is expected to bring about an increased emphasis Department-wide on the safe, and environmentally sound operation of DOE activities.

The Environment, Safety and Health Office provides to the Secretary and other senior managers of the DOE an independent overview assessment of, and technical assistance to the Department's management of its facilities to assure safe and healthful workplace conditions, the safety and health of the public, protection of the environment, and compliance with applicable ES&H-related statutory and regulatory requirements. The office also assures that energy issues compatible with national energy goals are considered in the development of proposed environmental requirements.

Achieving the Department's environmental, safety and health protection and quality assurance objectives hinges on a solid partnership between the Environment, Safety, and Health Office and the Department's line programs. The ES&H Office furnishes the line programs with applicable ES&H requirements through general policy orders, monitors their efforts in complying with these requirements, and assists with technical advice in resolving implementation problems. This allows the line organizations, which have the principal responsibility for safe and environmentally sound operations, to proceed with greater assurance that they will not incur interruptions from accidents or litigation stemming from non-compliance with ES&H-related laws or practices.

OUTSTANDING SAFETY AND HEALTH RECORD

The Department's safety and health record in 1983 was outstanding. The Department has the safety and health responsibility for 157,000 Federal and contractor employees who operate facilities with a property replacement value of about $65 billion. The Department's fatality, injury, and illness rates for FY 1983 were not only well below the rates of the private sector, (i.e., only 1/5th of the private sector's fatality rates and better than 1/3rd of the private sector's recorded illnesses and injuries rates), but also below the Department's own averages of its annual rates for the period 1978 through 1982. None of the FY 1983 injuries or illnesses were caused by radiation exposure, and there we were no accidental exposures in excess of the various allowable annual limits. The total reported property loss for the Department in FY 1983 was approximately $3.1 million. The loss rate was approximately half a cent for every hundred dollars of property valuation which is a significant improvement over the latest 5-year annual average for DOE of .89 cent per hundred dollar valuation.

The accidents per million miles and dollar loss per 1,000 vehicle miles rates were less than one-half the comparable rates for all nation-wide travel, as reported by the National Safety Council. The Department also owns or contracts for 48 aircraft, none of which were involved in an accident. In addition, there were no marine or railroad losses reported during FY 1983.

Of

Of the 85,000 employees routinely monitored for radiation exposure, only 438 received a measurable dose in 1982, the latest calendar year for which complete information is available. these, only 1.6% received a dose greater than 1 rem and no employee received a dose in excess of the allowable 5 rem limit.

The safety and health record indicates that the Department's performance in all areas continues to be far better than comparable rates for the private sector.

PRINCIPAL STATUTORY AUTHORITY

The statutory authority governing the ES&H Program includes the DOE Organization Act which establishes a Departmental goal of

protecting and enhancing environmental quality and assuring public health and safety; the Atomic Energy Act which exempts DOE

and its contractors from certain licensing requirements

(The DOE

requires that the Department's operations be conducted in accordance with comparable health and safety practices.); and the National Environmental Policy Act. This Act requires

consideration of environmental factors in agency decisionmaking,

including as appropriate, the preparation of environmental

assessments and environmental impact statements.

PROGRAM ORGANIZATION

The Program's functions are carried out by five major components: Nuclear Safety, Quality Assurance and Standards, Operational Safety, Environmental Compliance, and Environmental Analysis. Their activities include the development of policies and standards; oversight to monitor program and field office performance in complying with DOE policies and standards, technical and policy guidance assistance to foster compliance; the review of National Environmental Policy Act documents; and the analysis of energy/environmental issues.

FUNDING

In FY 1985 we are requesting $37.1 million for the Environment, Safety and Health Program which is $5.0 million more than appropriated in FY 1984 as noted in the following table, and discussed in the following sections. The increase is primarily in the nuclear safety area even though the Department's nuclear safety record has been outstanding. The planned increase is considered necessary by the Department to assure the continued safety of operations and to improve on the Department's excellent safety record. It is primarily in health physics for improving and standardizing plant measurement and operating procedures, in

emergency response by enhancing the remote sensing capabilities of the Aerial Measurement System, and in criticality safety by upgrading the safety assessments and the safety training for affected contractor and DOE employees.

The remaining activities

will continue at essentially the same level of effort as in 1984.

a/

Excludes 2 FTE's budgeted under the Nuclear Waste Act Fund.

FY 1984 PROGRAM PLANS

The FY 1984 plans include:

Conducting comprehensive environmental protection, safety, and health protection appraisals of three field organizations and of two Headquarters program offices. A comprehensive appraisal is comprised of in-depth appraisals of up to 10 functional ES&H areas performed in conjunction with, and as input to, a management appraisal of the organization being appraised.

This comprehensive appraisal effort has resulted and is expected to continue to result in numerous ES&H improvements such as: enhancing the quality of field office reviews of nuclear facilities and upgrading overall contractor

surveillance, through design reviews, construction monitoring,

etc.

Providing training to DOE and DOE contractor personnel in the areas of Human Factors, Nuclear Criticality Safety, Quality

Assurance Awareness, and Prevention of Significant Nuclear
Events.

O Expanding the criticality safety activities including the upgrading of the statistical measurements technical manual, used throughout DOE operational functions to insure control of fissionable material liquids, to include the latest up-to-date

data.

Testing the Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment
Plan in an interagency field and headquarters level exercise
with NRC, FEMA, state and local authorities and The Florida
Power and Light Company personnel at the St. Lucie Nuclear
Power Plant on March 6-8, 1984.

O Continuing field testing of prototype improved neutron measurement devices for workplace application.

Conducting quality assurance surveys of Bonneville and Western Area Power Administrations to determine the status of policy implementation, thereby completing the initial base-line surveys at all major DOE sites, and performing in-depth quality assurance appraisals of four selected major projects ( namely the Fuel Materials Examination Facility at Richland, the Assembly Facility at PANTEX, the Uranium Enrichment program at Oak Ridge, and the Crystaline Rock radioactive waste project under Chicago Operations Office) to determine adequacy of their quality assurance programs and activities to meet their needs and objectives.

O Issuing guidance to Headquarters, field, and contractor organizations for the conduct of environmental protection appraisals and audits incorporating industry practices.

Implementing revised environmental assurance procedures for the DOE Remedial Action Program.