Assessment of Nuclear Reactor Facility Operations at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory High Flux Isotope Reactor – April 2017
Office of Enterprise Assessments
April 28, 2017
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April 2017
Assessment of Nuclear Reactor Facility Operations at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory High Flux Isotope Reactor – April 2017
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Safety and Environmental Assessments, within the independent Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA), conducted an oversight assessment of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) operations. This assessment was part of a targeted assessment of nuclear reactor facility operations across the DOE complex.
EA identified nuclear reactor facility operations as a targeted assessment area in a memorandum to DOE senior line management, entitled Office of Enterprise Assessments Nuclear Safety, Worker Safety and Health, and Emergency Management Assessment Strategies and Activities, dated February 5, 2015. The memorandum also stated that EA would also evaluate the performance of DOE oversight during these assessments to provide an input to the overall evaluation of DOE Federal assurance capability. Pursuant to this memorandum, EA assessed the effectiveness of nuclear reactor facility operations at HFIR, which is managed and operated by University of Tennessee-Battelle, LLC (UT-Battelle) under the oversight of the ORNL Site Office (OSO). The review evaluated the flowdown and implementation of DOE requirements to ensure that activities are conducted safely and in accordance with those requirements, as well as the effectiveness of OSO’s oversight of nuclear reactor facility operations at HFIR.