What We Do

Policies, Requirements, & Guidance
We are responsible for establishing clear nuclear and facility safety requirements and expectations for the Department's facilities and activities. We accomplish this by developing and managing a coherent and integrated set of policies, requirements, and guidance that address facility and systems safety. These policies, requirements, and guidance help ensure that the health and safety of workers, the public, and the environment are adequately protected from the variety of hazards (e.g., nuclear, chemical, natural, industrial, and explosive) that may be present at DOE facilities.

We establish our nuclear and facility safety requirements through public rulemaking and through our consensus standards. The rulemaking and consensus standards processes require us to work with multiple government and nongovernment organizations that share our interests.

Standards
The Director of the Office of Nuclear and Facility Safety Policy performs as the DOE Standards Executive and serves as the DOE representative on the Interagency Committee for Standard Policy (ICSP). The ICSP, chaired by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), ensures that Federal agencies establish policy and processes to adopt or develop nongovernment or government standards that are consistent with Federal law and government policy.

The Office of Nuclear and Facility Safety Policy also manages the Department's Technical Standards Program, which coordinates the development, adoption, and management of the DOE technical standards and nongovernment standards used for DOE activities.

Interfaces & Liaisons
We represent the Department's interests before a number of Federal and international organizations. Some of these organizations have oversight or regulatory jurisdiction over DOE activities or share common regulatory issues. These organizations include:

• DNFSB (Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board)
• EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)
• IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency)
• NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission)
• OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)

We fulfill the responsibilities of the DOE Seismic Safety Coordinator by establishing the policy and standards for seismic safety of Federally-owned or leased buildings consistent with Federal law and Executive Orders. We also interact with:

• FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Administration) and
• USGS (United States Geological Survey)

We provide regulatory and safety experts as liaisons with other agencies, committees, government bodies, and industry groups actively working on nuclear and facility safety issues. These responsibilities require us to maintain expertise in a wide variety of functional areas.