The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB or Board) has safety oversight authority over the nuclear facilities at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), including Livermore Lab’s plutonium and tritium facilities. Without urgent action in the Senate Armed Services Committee, the board will be reduced to just one member, and will thereby lose its authority.
The DNFSB is an independent agency within the executive branch of the Federal Government. It was chartered in 1988 with the responsibility to provide recommendations and advice to the Secretary of Energy regarding public health and safety issues at DOE defense nuclear facilities, including with respect to the health and safety of employees and contractors and the nearby communities.
Congress established the Board in response to longtime, ongoing concerns about the level of health and safety protection that DOE was providing the public and workers at defense nuclear facilities. As nuclear weapons modernization accelerates at NNSA facilities like Livermore Lab, as does the potential for accidents, making the Board’s oversight increasingly important.
There are five positions on the Board for experts in the field of nuclear safety with demonstrated competence and knowledge relevant to its independent investigative and oversight functions. However, since early 2025, the Board has been reduced to just two members, Mr. Thomas A. Summers (a Republican nominee whose term ends on October 16, 2025), and Dr. Patricia L. Lee. The board currently has a temporary one-year statutory quorum. Since there is no indication that Mr. Summers might be allowed to extend his term, the Board may be down to one person after October, and will then lack a quorum. Without its quorum, the DNFSB can not carry out its mission effectively.
DNFSB has sent a list of potential nominees (both Republicans and Democrats) to the President. Maintaining a quorum requires Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee recommend a Presidential nomination of at least one new Board Member that the Senate approves. Better still would be three Senate-approved nominees (two Republicans and one Democrat), bringing the Board to full membership (4).
As the NNSA speeds ahead with the plan to produce new plutonium pits (the plutonium trigger at the core of all nuclear weapons) at Savannah River Site in SC, and Los Alamos in NM, the Board’s independent analysis and authority to provide expert recommendations is essential to ensuring these new operations are accomplished safely. Additionally, the DNFSB ensures accountability in regard to safety standards and increased public transparency during this potentially dangerous expansion.
Past board recommendations have resulted in saving millions of dollars by preventing accidents and providing a basis to modify or not build facilities. Maintaining a Board quorum preserves the DNFSB’s ability to issue formal recommendations, impose reporting requirements, and conduct hearings, thus ensuring that NNSA avoids accidents, protects workers and the nearby public and remains accountable.
In order to maintain the Board, Tri-Valley CAREs authored a letter which was adopted by the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, a nationwide network of grassroots groups located near nuclear weapons complex sites, of which Tri-Valley CAREs is a member group. The letter was recently sent to Republican members of the Senate Armed Services Committee who must take action to preserve the Board.
It is a priority of Tri-Valley CAREs to protect the Board and preserve the communities living close to nuclear facilities, including Livermore Lab where people live in extremely close proximity to these facilities–a risky scenario as the Lab has proposed enhancing its plutonium utilization in the near future.