Powers of Board

The Board may, for the purpose of performing its responsibilities under this subchapter— The Executive Director of Operations shall be the senior employee of the Board responsible for— The Board may prescribe regulations to carry out the responsibilities of the Board under this subchapter. The Board may establish reporting requirements for the Secretary of Energy which shall be binding upon the Secretary. The information which the Board may require the Secretary of Energy to report under this subsection may include any information designated as classified information, or any information designated as safeguards information and protected from disclosure under section 2167 or 2168 of this title. The Board may, for the purpose of carrying out its responsibilities under this subchapter, use any facility, contractor, or employee of any other department or agency of the Federal Government with the consent of and under appropriate support arrangements with the head of such department or agency and, in the case of a contractor, with the consent of the contractor. With the consent of and under appropriate support arrangements with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Board may obtain the advice and recommendations of the staff of the Commission on matters relating to the Board’s responsibilities and may obtain the advice and recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards on such matters. Notwithstanding any other provision of law relating to the use of competitive procedures, the Board may enter into an agreement with the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences or any other appropriate group or organization of experts outside the Federal Government chosen by the Board to assist the Board in carrying out its responsibilities under this subchapter. The Board may assign staff to be stationed at any Department of Energy defense nuclear facility to carry out the functions of the Board. The Board may conduct special studies pertaining to adequate protection of public health and safety at any Department of Energy defense nuclear facility. The Board may evaluate information received from the scientific and industrial communities, and from the interested public, with respect to— Notwithstanding section 552b of title 5, a quorum of the members of the Board may hold a meeting that is not open to public observation to discuss official business of the Board if— Except as provided by subparagraph (B), not later than two business days after the conclusion of a meeting described in paragraph (1), the Board shall make available to the public, in a place easily accessible to the public— If the Board properly determines under subparagraph (A)(ii) that a matter may be withheld from the public under section 552b(c) of title 5, the Board shall include in the summary required by that subparagraph as much general information as possible with respect to the matter. Nothing in this subsection may be construed— to limit the applicability of section 552b of title 5 with respect to—