Nuclear safety panel to discuss changes during hearing

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Members of an independent safety panel that provides oversight of some of the nation's highest risk nuclear facilities are holding another public hearing focused on efforts to downsize and reorganize the group.
The public hearing is Wednesday in Washington, D.C.
Members of New Mexico's congressional delegation, nuclear watchdog groups and others have voiced concerns about the reorganization of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board .
The concerns include limiting inspections of certain federal sites and curtailing the board's access to key information at nuclear sites. Los Alamos National Laboratory is among the locations monitored by the board.
U.S. Energy Department officials during a hearing earlier this year denied they were changing their approach to safety and rebuffed calls by board members and others to put the policy changes on hold.