Please add your organization to protect the vitally important Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (deadline Thursday, September 25th, close of business)

[Kevin Kamps]

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Please see the action alert below from Nuclear Watch New Mexico. Consider signing your group on. Sorry for the short deadline -- note that organizational sign ons must happen by close of business on Thursday, September 25th. Please spread the word. Thanks!

---Kevin Kamps, Beyond Nuclear

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Jay Coghlan <j...@nukewatch.org>
Date: Tue, Sep 23, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Subject: Correction: please add your organization to protect the vitally important Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
To: Kevin Kamps <ke...@beyondnuclear.org>

Please consider signing on your organization to the letter below at https://forms.gle/TK33FCeYXQX9fuaY9

With apologies for the necessarily rapid turn around, this letter with signatures will be sent to the Senate and House Minority Leaders Friday morning, September 26. 

https://forms.gle/TK33FCeYXQX9fuaY9

Please fill out the form below to add your organization to this letter urging Congress to protect the vitally important Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board

Please find the text of the letter below. Note this is an organizational sign-on statement, so please ensure you have any approval needed to sign on behalf of your organization before filling out the form. Time is of the essence, please sign on by close of business on Thursday, September 25!  If you have any questions, please reach out to sop...@nukewatch.org. 

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Mr. John Thune, Senate Majority Leader

Mr. Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader

Mr. Mike Johnson, House Speaker   Mr. Hakeem Jeffries, House Minority Leader Dear Mr. Thune, Schumer, Johnson and Jeffries: We, the undersigned organizations, respectfully request that you include a provision in any Continuing Resolution for FY 2026 that would enable the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board to continue its functioning quorum. This would be only a temporary measure until the Administration and Senate nominate and confirm additional Board Members. Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Mission:

• “The mission of the Board shall be to provide independent analysis, advice, and recommendations to the Secretary of Energy to inform the Secretary, in the role of the Secretary as operator and regulator of the defense nuclear facilities of the Department of Energy, in providing adequate protection of public health and safety at such defense nuclear facilities, including with respect to the health and safety of employees and contractors at such facilities."

• "The Board is composed of five respected experts in the field of nuclear safety with demonstrated competence and knowledge relevant to its independent investigative and oversight functions. The Congress established the Board in September 1988 in response to growing concerns about the level of health and safety protection that DOE was providing the public and workers at defense nuclear facilities. In so doing, Congress sought to provide the general public with added assurance that DOE’s defense nuclear facilities are being safely designed, constructed, operated, and decommissioned.” https://www.dnfsb.gov/about/mission

Background: Since early 2025, the Board has been reduced to just two Members, with a temporary one-year statutory bridge to constitute a quorum that is drawing to a close. Further, the current Acting Chairman’s term expires this October 18, 2025, ending the Board’s functioning quorum. Without it, the DNFSB cannot effectively carry out its critical nuclear safety oversight mission. The public would simply not know about the DOE’s chronic nuclear safety problems without the Board. Specific request: That there be a provision in any Continuing Resolution for FY 2026 that would temporarily extend the authority of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. Such provision would allow the Acting Chair to serve until the end of January 2027. The overriding purpose is to enable the Safety Board to continue operations and provide for more time for the President to nominate, and the Senate confirm, new Members. Thank you for your consideration,

sign on at https://forms.gle/TK33FCeYXQX9fuaY9

-- 
Jay Coghlan, Executive Director
Nuclear Watch New Mexico
903 W. Alameda #325, Santa Fe, NM 87501
505.989.7342 c. 505.470.3154
j...@nukewatch.org

--

Kevin Kamps
Radioactive Waste Specialist
Beyond Nuclear
7304 Carroll Avenue, #182
Takoma Park, Maryland 20912

Cell: (240) 462-3216

ke...@beyondnuclear.org
www.beyondnuclear.org

Beyond Nuclear aims to educate and activate the public about the connections between nuclear power and nuclear weapons and the need to abolish both to safeguard our future. Beyond Nuclear advocates for an energy future that is sustainable, benign and democratic.