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Freedom of Information Act

The Office of Information Resources is responsible for administering policies, programs, and procedures to ensure DOE compliance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOlA), 5 U.S.C. 552.

The resources on these pages are provided to aid in finding answers to questions about programs of the Department of Energy and to obtain information that is publicly available without submitting a FOlA request.  You may also search on the FOIA Portal that consists of documents previously released under the FOIA.  If the information is not available here, submit a Freedom of Information Act request electronically.

If you would like to obtain the date received by this office, the estimated completion date or any additional information related to your request you should contact the FOIA Requester Service Center at this location.  If you submitted your request to a component of the DOE, or if you submitted a request to this office and it has been transferred to a component of the DOE to be processed, please contact the FOIA Requester Service Center at the location. 

Please note, many of the documents on these pages will require Adobe Reader for viewing.

What is the FOIA? (PDF) provides background on the FOIA.

FOIA Fees (PDF) discusses fees requestors pay for processing FOIA requests.

The Public Handbook for Gaining Access to Department of Energy Information (PDF) explains how you can obtain DOE information.

Comments as of January 23, 2009 on proposed amendments to 10CFR 1004 (FOIA REGS) RIN 1901-AA32

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Final Opinions

[5 USC 552 (a)(2)](A) final opinions, including concurring and dissenting opinions, as well as orders, made in the adjudication of cases.

Office of Hearings and Appeal - FOIA Appeals

Initial agency determinations in response to FOIA and Privacy Act requests may be appealed to the Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA). Decisions of the OHA constitute the agency's final determinations on requests made under either statute. OHA decisions issued after January 1, 1995, are available from this page.

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Statements of Policy and Interpretation

[5 USC 552 (a)(2)](B) those statements of policy and interpretation which have been adopted by the agency and are not published in the Federal Register.

DOE Directives Website

DOE Directives include Policies, Orders, Notices, Manuals, and Guides which are intended to direct, guide, inform, and instruct employees in the performance of their jobs, and enable them to work effectively within the Department and with agencies, contractors, and the public.

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Administrative Staff Manuals and Instructions

[5 USC 552 (a)(2)](C) administrative staff manuals and instructions to staff that affect a member of the public.

DOE Directives Website

DOE Directives include Policies, Orders, Notices, Manuals, and Guides which are intended to direct, guide, inform, and instruct employees in the performance of their jobs, and enable them to work effectively within the Department and with agencies, contractors, and the public.

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Other Records of Interest

[5 USC 552 (a)(2)](D) copies of all records, regardless of form or format, which have been released to any person . . . and which, because of the nature of their subject matter, the agency determines have become or are likely to become the subject of subsequent requests for substantially the same record.

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General DOE Documents

Current Awareness Electronic and Paper Publications (OSTI)
Abstracts of publications within specific DOE R&D areas

Department of Energy Home Page
The DOE Home Page provides a point of entry through which users can access the Department's information and a mechanism through which DOE can quickly make its information available to the public. Types of information covered include scientific and technical, research results, technology transfer, announcements of technology with commercialization potential, strategic planning, and DOE administrative and operational information. Additionally, it provides links to the Home Pages of the major programs and initiatives of the Department.

DOE Contact Information, National Telephone Listings, mailing addresses of all of the DOE sites, and links to the home pages of DOE Headquarters or Program Offices, DOE Operations Offices, DOE Laboratories and Other Field Facilities, and other DOE Information Sources.

R&D Project Summaries Web Database (OSTI)
Access to over 12,000 R&D projects currently ongoing within the DOE can be found within this application. Projects pertaining to Departmental activities in Energy Research, Fossil Energy, Environmental Management, and Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, are some of the R&D disciplines found in the database.

General Search Indexes

Nuclear Testing Archive

The Nuclear Testing Archive collects and consolidates for long-term protection, historical documents and data dealing with radioactive fallout from all US testing of nuclear devices. Records relating to Human Radiation Experiments are also available. Over 310,000 documents are available through the CIC at the Public reading Facility in Las Vegas, Nevada and through abstracts accessed through OpenNet.

OpenNet & OpenNet Search

OpenNet is a database containing bibliographic citations that identify and provides a source of availability for DOE documents declassified after October 1994 and made publicly releasable. It includes some documents that were never classified but are of historical interest. It was created to facilitate access to publicly releasable DOE information that was previously classified or restricted or is of historical interest.

Information Bridge

The DOE Information Bridge, a component of DOE's EnergyFiles, provides free, convenient, and quick access to full-text DOE research and development reports in physics, chemistry, materials, biology, environmental sciences, energy technologies, engineering, computer and information science, renewable energy, and other topics. For all features to work properly, either Netscape 3.01 or greater or Microsoft Explorer 4.0 or greater is required.

EIA's Energy Information

Secretarial Delegation of Authority  Legal instrument used to transfer authority granted to the Secretary of Energy.

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Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB)
The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board provides an independent oversight of the operation of Defense Nuclear Facilities operated by the Department of Energy. The documents in this collection are the reports and assessments prepared by the DNFSB as part of their responsibilities.

Office of the Representative to the DNFSB

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Health, Safety, and Security

The Office of Health, Safety and Security (HSS) is the Department of Energy's (DOE) central organization responsible for health, safety, environment, and security; providing corporate-level leadership and strategic vision to coordinate and integrate these vital programs. 

Earth and Environmental Science EES-3's Technical Reports, LANL

A listing of Technical Reports available from the Los Alamos National Laboratory Geophysics Group.

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Analyses

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires federal agencies to consider environmental values and factors in agency planning and decision-making. This site provides access to Environmental Assessments, Environmental Impact Statements, and other DOE NEPA-related documents.

Occurrence Reporting and Processing System

The DOE's Occurrence Reporting Program provides timely notification to the DOE complex of events that could adversely affect: public or DOE worker health and safety, the environment, national security, DOE's safeguards and security interests, functioning of DOE facilities, or the Department's reputation. DOE analyzes aggregate occurrence information for generic implications and operational improvements. Note: Access to the ORPS Data Base requires prior registration.

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Human Subject Research

Corporate Reporting Databases

The Corporate Reporting Databases provide Web-based systems and data analysis documents to facilitate access to data on occurrences, accidents, illnesses, exposures, environmental impacts, performance, and compliance. Database access is restricted to authorized DOE staff and contractors.

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Open, Declassified Documents

OpenNet & OpenNet Search

OpenNet is a database containing bibliographic citations that identify and provides a source of availability for DOE documents declassified after October 1994 and made publicly releasable. It includes some documents that were never classified but are of historical interest. It was created to facilitate access to publicly releasable DOE information that was previously classified or restricted or is of historical interest.

Hanford Declassified Document Retrieval System

The Richland Operations Office (RL) initiated the Hanford Declassification Project (HDP) to declassify sensitive DOE documents. The declassified documents are scanned and the images made available directly through this homepage or via OpenNet. The intent is to provide easy and timely access to recently declassified Hanford documents, including documents declassified in response to Freedom of Information Act requests.

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Technical Information Services (TIS)

Technical Information Services (TIS) is a collection of information services that provides safety and health professionals with reliable, accurate and current information to assist them in performing their jobs. There is a:

Health, Safety, and Security Information Portal

Through the InfoCenter, an experienced research staff provides multi-media access to Federal, industry and international information sources.

Internet Resource Directory

To help locate information relevant to job responsibilities, the Technical Research and Applications Center (TRAC) has compiled an Internet Resource Directory. The Directory is a list of ES&H-related resources accessible via the TIS Home Page and contains hyperlinks to individual entries.

Lessons Learned Database

To help locate information relevant to job responsibilities, the Technical Research and Applications Center (TRAC) has compiled an Internet Resource Directory. The Directory is a list of ES&H-related resources accessible via the TIS Home Page and contains hyperlinks to individual entries.

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Technical Reports
Comprehensive Epidemiologic Data Resource (CEDR) Program

The DOE has developed the Comprehensive Epidemiologic Data Resource (CEDR) Program to provide public access to health and exposure data concerning DOE installations. Most of the data are from epidemiologic studies conducted by DOE-funded researchers as part of the DOE Worker Health and Mortality Study. Additionally, studies of populations residing near DOE installations, and other studies of radiation health effects, such as classic studies of atomic bomb survivors and the radium dial painters, are represented in CEDR.

DNFSB Technical Reports

Selected reports published by the Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board.

Earth and Environmental Science EES-3's Technical Reports, LANL  A listing of Technical Reports available from the Los Alamos National Laboratory Geophysics Group.

This bibliographic database is a subset of the Energy Science and Technology Database (EDB) created and maintained by the Department of Energy, Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI). The database contains all unlimited, unclassified scientific and technical information relating to energy efficiency and renewable energy topics processed at OSTI that is DOE sponsored or published in the United States.

Energy Science and Technology Software Center (ESTSC)

The Energy Science and Technology Software Center Database includes citations to the latest in federal technology that has solved many problems in energy, science, environment, administration, mathematics, and computing. It also contains selected software obtained from the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Software packages contained in the collection range from those designed to run on personal computers and work stations to those designed for mainframes and supercomputers. Many of the packages have multiple versions available in order to facilitate usage on a variety of computers with varying operating systems. The Database was created to facilitate access to federally-funded software developed by DOE national laboratories and other facilities, contractors of DOE, and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

Historical Nuclear Weapons Test Films

The DOE, in cooperation with the Department of Defense, has begun an effort to declassify a series of historical films on the nuclear weapons program. They are being converted to videotape format to help preserve the films and to facilitate the declassification and release process. These films document the history of the development of nuclear weapons, starting with the first bomb tested at Trinity Site in southeastern New Mexico in July 1945. This is the first time the films have ever been edited for declassification and public release. (Portions of some of these films were previously released.)

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Analyses

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires federal agencies to consider environmental values and factors in agency planning and decision-making. This site provides access to Environmental Assessments, Environmental Impact Statements, and other DOE NEPA-related documents.

OCRWM Technical Publications & Information

Use the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) Technical Publications Database to search for recent information pertaining to the management of commercial spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. The database contains abstracts of OCRWM's scientific and technical reports published in the past year.

Technical Standards  The DOE Technical Standards Program promotes the use of voluntary consensus standards at DOE, manages and facilitates DOE's efforts to develop and maintain necessary technical standards, and communicates information on technical standards activities to people who develop or use technical standards in DOE.

Full-text DOE technical standards.

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Other Records

Office of General Counsel Information Systems

DOE History and Archives

Find histories and records of the Department of Energy.