Nuclear Waste Cleanup: Closer Alignment with Leading Practices Needed to Improve Department of Energy Program Management
Fast Facts
The Department of Energy has spent over $215 billion since 1989 to clean up hazardous and radioactive waste. It estimates that the remaining work will cost about $675 billion more.
DOE recognizes that remaining work must be safe and cost-effective and has incorporated some program management leading practices as it implements a cleanup plan. For example, DOE is developing life-cycle cost and schedule estimates to track progress and monitor cleanup at individual sites. But it's hard to ensure that the cleanup program is running efficiently without applying these leading practices program-wide.
We recommended doing so.
Highlights
What GAO Found
The Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management (EM) developed its 2020 Program Management Protocol to update its cleanup policy to reflect leading practices for program management. EM has begun a two-phase review of the implementation of the Protocol at its 15 cleanup sites. Phase I focuses on review and approval of sites' strategic planning, risk management, and life-cycle cost and schedule estimates. Phase II reviews are meant to ensure implementation of the sites' life-cycle scope, cost, and schedule estimates and supporting systems, processes, and procedures is sustainable, and to evaluate the continued reliability of these estimates (see figure). EM's implementation of the Protocol is delayed—initially expected to be completed in fiscal year 2024, it is now likely to extend past August 2025.
Office of Environmental Management's Progress in Completing Its Review of the Program Management Protocol Implementation at Its Cleanup Sites, as of April 2024
EM has incorporated some program management leading practices in its implementation of the Protocol and has opportunities to further incorporate others. For example:
- EM is updating its site-specific life-cycle cost and schedule estimates to use as baselines to track progress and monitor site work by government officials. However, EM does not yet have a comprehensive, program-wide life-cycle schedule estimate—called an integrated master schedule—which is the focal point of program management. EM is planning to update its schedule at the level needed to manage the program, track key decision points and see interdependencies across sites. Until that happens, EM will not be able to integrate and optimize its work to be more efficient and use this schedule as a baseline to monitor progress toward cleanup goals.
- EM requires cleanup sites to conduct root cause analyses if sites exceed defined thresholds for cost and schedule overruns and secure EM leadership approval for revised estimates. However, EM does not clearly require that corrective action plans accompany the root cause analyses, that the corrective actions are tracked through their completion, or that the implementation of corrective action is independently reviewed. EM is also not required to report on the root causes and the status of implementing corrective actions to ensure corrective actions are implemented in a timely and adequate manner. These steps would create an important accountability and oversight mechanism for a program approaching $900 billion in estimated life-cycle costs.
Why GAO Did This Study
EM has spent over $215 billion since its creation in 1989 to clean up hazardous and radioactive waste at sites and facilities contaminated from nuclear weapons production and nuclear energy research. EM has acknowledged that it needs to strengthen program management to ensure that the completion of the remaining cleanup work is safe, efficient, and cost-effective.
GAO was asked to review EM's implementation of its 2020 Program Management Protocol. This report examines (1) how EM has implemented its Protocol and (2) the extent to which EM has incorporated program management leading practices as it implements the Protocol.
GAO reviewed documents and conducted semi-structured interviews with EM officials at cleanup sites and headquarters. GAO also evaluated EM processes against program management leading practices and additional supplemental criteria.
Recommendations
GAO is making seven recommendations to the Department of Energy, including developing an EM program-wide schedule that is comprehensive, includes interdependencies, and is based on realistic assumptions; and ensuring that EM conducts root cause analyses of cost and schedule overruns, implements corrective actions, and reports annually on the outcome of their implementation.
DOE concurred with the seven recommendations.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Energy | The Senior Advisor for the Office of Environmental Management should ensure EM strategic plans, roadmaps, and program management plans follow best practices for being comprehensive for the entire EM program and, as applicable, for each site. (Recommendation 1) |
In a letter responding to our report, the Office of Environmental Management (EM) agreed with our recommendation. EM stated that it will develop an implementation guidance document to clarify program management requirements at a level lower than the EM Program Management Protocol. EM estimated completing this action by June 2025.
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| Department of Energy | The Senior Advisor for the Office of Environmental Management should ensure the EM program's integrated master schedule (1) is comprehensive, (2) includes site-level and program-wide interdependencies, and (3) is based on realistic assumptions. (Recommendation 2) |
In a letter responding to our report, the Office of Environmental Management (EM) agreed with our recommendation. EM stated that it will ensure that each EM site develops an integrated master schedule with appropriate inter-site dependencies. EM estimated completing this action by June 2025.
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| Department of Energy | The Senior Advisor for the Office of Environmental Management should ensure that, as EM implements its risk management policy, EM follows the seven key processes for a risk management framework. (Recommendation 3) |
In a letter responding to our report, the Office of Environmental Management (EM) agreed with our recommendation. EM stated that it will implement a risk management policy and address the seven key processes for risk management. EM estimated completing this action by June 2025.
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| Department of Energy | The Senior Advisor for the Office of Environmental Management should ensure EM develops program-wide performance metrics that follow the key components of effective performance metrics, as applicable, such as by developing performance metrics that measure the cost per unit of radioactivity treated. (Recommendation 4) |
In a letter responding to our report, the Office of Environmental Management (EM) agreed with our recommendation. However, EM stated that it has addressed the recommendation because sufficient action has already been taken with existing efforts. We reviewed these efforts as part of our review and disagree that they fully address our recommendation because EM's performance metrics did not fully align with four of the key attributes of effective performance metrics-linkage, clarity, balance, and government-wide priorities. We will continue to review EM's progress to address this recommendation as EM develops performance metrics in the future.
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| Department of Energy | The Senior Advisor for the Office of Environmental Management should ensure that monitoring and change control processes are standardized to facilitate integration and reporting of data EM-wide. (Recommendation 5) |
In a letter responding to our report, the Office of Environmental Management (EM) agreed with our recommendation. EM stated that it is currently updating the Standard Operating Policies and Procedure related to change control processes. EM estimated completing this action by December 2024.
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| Department of Energy | The Senior Advisor for the Office of Environmental Management should ensure that, when a site FSLE exceeds a change control threshold that requires the Senior Advisor's approval and a root cause analysis under the Protocol, (1) the site's root cause analysis be accompanied by a corrective action plan and that corrective actions are tracked through completion, (2) an independent review is performed that includes an assessment and validation of the extent to which the corrective actions resolve the root causes identified, and (3) EM report each year on the program impacts of the independent reviews and outcomes of corrective actions, such as through EM's program plan updates. (Recommendation 6) |
In a letter responding to our report, the Office of Environmental Management (EM) agreed with our recommendation. EM stated that it will ensure that corrective action plans accompany root cause analyses and are tracked through completion. EM will also ensure that internal independent reviews occur and will report significant changes to the EM program life cycle in the EM Program Plan. EM estimated completing this action by September 2025.
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| Department of Energy | The Senior Advisor for the Office of Environmental Management should ensure EM establishes a formal lessons learned process related to areas of program management that is applied EM-wide and that incorporates the six key components of a formal lessons learned process. (Recommendation 7) |
In a letter responding to our report, the Office of Environmental Management (EM) agreed with our recommendation. EM stated that it will apply lessons learned from implementation of the EM Program Management Protocol by establishing a formal process and documenting additional and revised guidance. EM estimated completing this action by June 2025.
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