This Rocky Flats inventory comprises many tons of plutonium. In fact, the Board recommended that steps be taken to assess the structural competence of Building 371 in light of estimates of the severity of earthquakes and other natural phenomena that might be anticipated to occur at Rocky Flats. In view of your health and safety responsibilities, the Board would like to know what alternative measures you have taken or wish to take with regard to Building 371. The Board is also interested in assuring the health and safety of Rocky Flats' workers from all hazards. Thus, we would be interested in receiving a copy of any actions you have mandated to prevent beryllium disease in people at Rocky Flats and any documentation that assuring structural stability of Building 371 is responsible for inadequate attention to beryllium disease problems.
Most regulators have a period for public comment after they suggest a rule or a proposal.
So, for the most part, we accept the recommendation and then try to figure out what we got ourselves into. It would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars category given all of the recommendations that have come in since the board began in 1990. At the time of your testimony, the Board's staff numbered 101 of which 63 were technical and 6 were legal, none of whom can tell you or any DOE person what to do. Neither can the five Board Members. Board Members, and only they and not staff, can make recommendations to the Secretary of Energy, which the Secretary may accept in whole, in part, or reject.