DEFENSE NUCLEAR FACILITIES SAFETY BOARD

Shutdown Plan in the Event of a Lapse in Appropriations (2023) 

Lapse Plan Summary Overview 

Estimated time (to nearest half day) required to complete shutdown activities 0.5 days 

Total number of agency employees expected to be on board before 

implementation of the plan: 118 

Total number of employees to be retained under the plan for each of the following 

categories:

Compensation is financed by a resource other than annual appropriations: 0 FTEs

Necessary to perform activities expressly authorized by law: 29 FTEs

Necessary to perform activities necessarily implied by law: 29 FTEs

Necessary to the discharge of the President’s constitutional duties and 

powers:

3 FTEs

Necessary to protect life and property: 14 FTEs

Brief summary of significant agency activities that will continue during a lapse: 

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (Board) will continue public health and safety 

oversight operations at DOE defense nuclear facilities for as long as possible using OMB 

approved apportioned funds (carryover) from the previous fiscal year. If the lapse continues to 

the point where no funding is available, the Chairperson may designate resident inspectors at 

designated DOE defense nuclear sites and a small number of headquarters staff as excepted 

employees to support continued safety oversight by the Board members (who are not subject 

to furlough) and to reconstitute operations after the lapse. If an urgent safety situation arises at 

a DOE defense nuclear facility, the Chairperson may declare additional staff to be excepted 

employees and recall them to duty.

Brief summary of significant agency activities that will cease during a lapse: 

Once carryover funds are exhausted, the agency’s normal safety oversight of DOE defense 

nuclear facilities will cease, including reviews of standards, events, practices, design and 

operational data, and facility design and construction. Site visits by Board members and staff, 

reviews of documentation, formal investigations, inspections, and other ongoing fact-finding 

activities will cease. Posting of information on the safety conditions at DOE defense nuclear 

facilities on the Board’s public website will cease.

Background Information

The Board is an independent establishment within the Executive Branch that was created 

in 1988 to provide safety oversight of Department of Energy (DOE) defense nuclear facilities. 

DOE defense nuclear facilities are defined by statute to include (with certain exceptions): 

(1) nuclear production or utilization facilities under the control or jurisdiction of the Secretary of 
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Energy and operated for national security purposes; and (2) nuclear waste storage facilities under 

the control or jurisdiction of the Secretary of Energy. (42 U.S.C. § 2286g). 

The Board reviews standards, events, practices, design and operational data, and facility 

design and construction related to DOE defense nuclear facilities and provides independent 

analysis, advice, and recommendations to the Secretary of Energy that are necessary for the 

adequate protection of public and worker health and safety. (42 U.S.C. § 2286a(b)). The Board 

obtains information used in developing analysis, advice, and recommendations from resident 

inspectors of the Board, frequent communication with DOE officials, site visits by Board 

members and staff, reviews of documentation, formal investigations, inspections, and other 

ongoing fact-finding activities. 

The Board is required to submit draft recommendations to the Secretary of Energy to 

enable the Secretary the opportunity to provide comments prior to the Board’s submission of 

final recommendations. (42 U.S.C. § 2286d(a)). The Secretary of Energy is then required to 

respond to final Board recommendations by transmitting to the Board, in writing, a statement on 

whether the Secretary accepts or rejects, in whole or in part, the recommendations, a description 

of the actions to be taken in response, and the Secretary’s views on such recommendations. (42 

U.S.C. § 2286d(c). If, as a result of its reviews, the Board determines that an imminent or severe 

threat to public health and safety exists, the Board is required to transmit any related 

recommendations directly to the President as well as the Secretary of Energy, and to transmit a 

copy to the Secretary of Defense for information purposes. (42 U.S.C. § 2286d(h)). 

General Strategy

The Board will assess if the ongoing situation exempts the Board from furloughing 

employees. If not, the Board’s strategy will be to continue public health and safety oversight 

operations at DOE defense nuclear facilities for as long as possible using OMB approved 

apportioned funds (carryover) from the previous fiscal year. During this period, the Board will 

institute controls to exercise short-term fiscal restraint. These controls will be designed, for 

example, to minimize spending and delay procurements where possible. 

If sufficient carryover is available, the Board will continue full operations. The Board 

will reevaluate its strategy weekly to determine if furloughs are necessary and to update spend 

plans. If necessary, priority will be given to keeping the Board’s resident inspectors stationed at 

DOE defense nuclear facilities, and to keeping key staff personnel working to continue providing 

safety oversight at priority sites and maintaining essential agency administrative activities. If the 

Board reaches the point where no funding is available, normal safety oversight activities will 

cease, including receiving safety complaints from workers at DOE sites and the public. At this 

point, the Chairperson may designate the following as excepted employees: resident inspectors 

at designated DOE defense nuclear sites, four Office Directors, the Chief Financial Officer and 

one budget analyst, the Director of Human Resources and one human resources specialist, the 

Chief Information Officer and one cybersecurity specialist, one contracting specialist, and one 

security specialist. The designated sites are the Hanford site, the Pantex Plant, the Savannah 

River Site, the Y-12 National Security Complex/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Los 

Alamos National Laboratory. 
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In the event of an urgent or emergency situation that may threaten the adequate protection 

of public health and safety at a DOE defense nuclear facility, the Chairperson may declare 

additional Board’s staff to be excepted employees and recall them to duty. Additionally, if DOE 

executes a partial or total shutdown of DOE defense nuclear facilities as any portion of its 

response to a funding hiatus, the Chairperson may identify excepted employees to monitor the 

DOE shutdown for safety purposes. 

Specific Information Required by OMB Circular No. A–11 

The Board estimates that it will take one-half day to complete shutdown operations. 

The total number of Board employees expected to be on-board before implementation of 

this contingency plan is 118. This number includes Board members. 

The total number of Board employees to be retained under this contingency plan 

1) whose compensation is financed by a resource other than annual appropriations; 2) are 

necessary to perform activities expressly authorized by law; 3) are necessary to perform 

activities necessarily implied by law; or 4) are necessary to the discharge of the President’s 

constitutional duties and powers is 0. 

The number of Board employees to be retained to protect life and property, or perform 

activities expressly authorized or necessarily implied by law, when all previously appropriated 

funding is expended, is 26, not including the three current Board members. The 26 employees 

are: resident inspectors at each of the designated DOE defense nuclear sites, four Office 

Directors, the Chief Financial Officer and one budget analyst, the Director of Human Resources 

and one human resources specialist, the Chief Information Officer and one cybersecurity 

specialist, one contracting specialist, and one security specialist.

Designation of Excepted Activities in the Event of an Emergency 

The following are considered by the Board to be required functions to respond to an 

emergency that may threaten adequate protection of the public or worker health and safety at a 

DOE defense nuclear facility during a funding hiatus. 

1. Formal Action by the Board 

Three of the five members of the Board (including the Chairperson) are required to 

preserve the ability of the Board to respond to any unforeseen accident, emergency, or, in 

the words of our enabling statute, “imminent or severe threat” to public health and safety 

at DOE defense nuclear facilities. As the Board members are appointed by the President, 

they are not subject to furlough. 
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2. Board Oversight Activities 

The Board’s oversight during a funding hiatus would be focused on detecting and 

responding to an “imminent or severe threat” to public health and safety and maintaining 

adequate protection of the public and workers at DOE defense nuclear facilities. 

3. Legal Matters 

There is an ongoing need for legal advice to the Chairperson regarding the disposition of 

formal agency business in accordance with the Government in Sunshine Act and the 

Board’s enabling statute. Moreover, legal support is necessary in the event that Board 

investigations require the use of subpoenas or appearances before courts to gain access to 

information or facilities in the event of an emergency. It is assumed that the courts will 

continue to operate during a funding hiatus. Finally, legal support is needed to respond to 

lawsuits involving the Board and safety issues. 

4. Administrative Matters 

The Board must maintain a small group of administrative personnel capable of 

performing the full range of required administrative duties, such as facility management 

and security, information technology, human resources, finance, and other administrative 

services in the event of any emergency. 

5. Funds Certification and Contract Monitoring Activity 

Sufficient personnel are required to authorize and monitor disbursement of previously 

committed funds, as well as those funds necessary to carry out the emergency activities 

that have been identified as having an impact on public health and safety. 

Board Excepted Employees 

In the event of an emergency that may threaten public or worker health and safety at a 

DOE defense nuclear facility during a funding hiatus, the Chairperson may designate the 

following Board’s staff personnel to carry out excepted activities under the terms of the 

Antideficiency Act, 31 U.S.C. § 1341. 

Office of the Executive Director of Operations: Executive Director of Operations. Other staff 

may be designated based on the nature of the emergency. 

Office of the General Counsel: General Counsel. Other legal staff may be designated based on 

the nature of the ongoing legal needs of the office. 

Office of the Technical Director: Technical Director and Deputy Technical Director. Other 

technical staff may be designated based on the nature of the emergency.
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Office of the General Manager: General Manager, the Chief Financial Officer and one budget 

analyst, the Director of Human Resources and one human resources specialist, the Chief 

Information Officer and one cybersecurity specialist, one contracting specialist, and one security 

specialist. 

Contract Support 

The Board may retain sufficient information technology and administrative support 

personnel to operate the Board’s information technology enterprise and provide essential

services such as mail operations in support of the Board members and excepted personnel, 

subject to availability of previously obligated funds. 

Technical support consultants may be used, subject to availability of previously obligated 

funds. 

Resumption of Operations 

 Furloughed employees will be directed to monitor the Office of Personnel Management 

website, the Board’s website, and their personal email for updates on progress toward restoration 

of appropriations. Once appropriations are restored, the Board will notify furloughed employees 

via the employees’ personal email and the Board’s website and provide instructions on returning 

to work. Supervisors will have the flexibility to approve the use of accrued annual leave, 

compensatory time off, or credit hours by employees who have problems returning to work on 

the specified day. Office Directors will be instructed to evaluate whether any aspects of their 

offices’ work plans for the remainder of the fiscal year need to be revised because of the lapse. 

The Board’s General Manager, the Chief Financial Officer, and a contracting officer will oversee 

any actions related to the disbursement of funds for contracts and procurements impacted by the 

lapse.