Our History - The First 20 Years

This report was prepared by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress. It is the first report of its kind, detailing the comprehensive history of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.

This study captures how the Board met the competing national security, health and safety, environmental, government, and public demands placed upon DOE's defense nuclear facilities, explicating the principles and techniques the Board employed to efficiently function as a federal agency and efficiently fulfill the Board's unique mandate under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended. While it chronicles events, the study also serves as the tutorial for those charged with the future administration of the Board's enabling legislation, making available to the current and future leadership the philosophical and jurisprudential underpinnings of the form of governance captured in the Board's enabling legislation and the resolution of changing and sometimes opposing national requirements.