The Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch agrees with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that DOE should not rush into costly infrastructure projects before doing more research up front.
By the end of 2026, the DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) will look to implement two GAO recommendations in a recently-released report, the head of EM, Tim Walsh, said in comments included in the report.
In the report made public last Thursday, GAO said the Environmental Management office should not commit to megadollar infrastructure outlay before first looking at a range of solutions. Likewise, GAO also said EM should make use of “independent experts” outside DOE when researching potential options. This is especially true, GAO said, for projects involving the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, also known as CERCLA or Superfund.
The total costs for EM’s most pricey capital asset projects have swollen “by more than $2 billion since 2022 and at least five EM sites anticipate needing future projects that will likely cost over $100 million each,” GAO said.
The congressional watchdog said it has previously found EM “has not followed its standards for defining mission need for some large projects,” according to the report. Most of EM’s mission need statements examined by GAO endorse a particular solution.
For example, GAO cited the Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee. “There, EM officials said they did not see an issue with identifying a solution at the mission need stage because other solutions are explored in later planning stages,” GAO said in the report.
The DOE cleanup office does internal reviews before approving mission needs for large projects, but “the reviews do not include independent experts,” who might favor less costly options.
The report is being sent to Senate and House committees on Appropriations as well as Armed Services.