The Department of Energy's Office of Health, Safety and Security would lose oversight for the safety of nuclear weapons workers under a provision in the Defense Authorization Act, which hands that authority over to the quasi-independent National Nuclear Security Administration.

The provision is one of several that have come under fire from unions and watchdog groups, which say the bill weakens health and safety protections at DOE's nuclear weapons facilities. The Obama administration has also publicly opposed the provisions in its veto threat on the overall bill, which authorizes a fiscal 2013 budget that is $4 billion over the White House proposal.

In a letter to the House Rules Committee -- which is set to meet on the bill today -- the National Treasury Employees Union argued that NNSA does not have the same training and experience in "protecting worker life" as DOE's HSS.

"The work done at these facilities is extremely hazardous and there is a long history of safety problems," wrote NTEU President Colleen Kelley. "Given this work involves the most dangerous substances and weapons in the world, it is probably the last workplace that should see reduced health and safety standards and inspections."

Republicans counter that the bill streamlines what is now a bureaucratic process. Claude Chafin, spokesman for House Armed Services Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), pointed to the 2009 findings of a bipartisan commission chaired by former Defense Secretaries William Perry and James Schlesinger.

"Numerous studies, including the bipartisan Perry-Schlesinger Commission, have noted that the current system is too focused on process and not focused enough on safety and the mission," Chafin said. "We cannot afford for safety to be a second-level priority to passing paper between thousands of federal bureaucrats."

The provisions make several changes to how DOE oversees the contractor-operated labs that maintain the nation's stockpile of nuclear weapons.

Under the bill, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board would be required to submit drafts of its recommendations to DOE, "creating a more collaborative recommendation process," according to the committee's report on the bill. Currently, the independent panel makes final recommendations to DOE; the Energy secretary is then required to publicly outline why any recommendations were rejected.

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has issued some harsh reports in the past, causing friction between the board and DOE. Last year, for example, it determined that managers at a nuclear waste site in Hanford, Wash., "subtly, consistently and effectively" communicated to employees that differing opinions were not welcome (Greenwire, July 22, 2011).

The authorization bill also directs NNSA to establish a performance-based system for the management and oversight of contractors -- a change that the Project on Government Oversight characterized as giving the labs "the ability to self-report and self-regulate their performance."

The Project on Government Oversight and federal employee unions have thrown their weight behind an amendment from Democratic Reps. George Miller and Loretta Sanchez of California and Pete Visclosky of Indiana that would roll back the changes.

Miller, in a statement, said the authorization bill "represents a shift to extensive contractor self-regulation, and all but eliminates the government's role in protecting workers and the public. Such a model is recklessly inappropriate for an industry that uses ultra-hazardous materials and technologies."