GAO says Hanford not implementing management reforms

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

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Nuclear Waste: Absence of Key Management Reforms on Hanford's Cleanup
Project Adds to Challenges of Achieving Cost and Schedule Goals  

GAO-04-611  
June 9, 2004

Summary

The Department of Energy's (DOE) Hanford Site in Washington State houses
DOE's largest and most complex nuclear cleanup project--treating and
preparing for disposal 55 million gallons of high-level radioactive
waste. In 2000, DOE awarded an 11-year, $4.3 billion contract to design,
construct, and test treatment facilities at Hanford. GAO was asked to
review (1) efforts to accelerate the project's completion, (2)
implementation on this project of agencywide management reforms, and (3)
the challenges resulting from any unimplemented reforms.

DOE's initial approach called for treating 10 percent of the site's
high-level waste by 2018 and for operating the plant until treatment was
completed in 2046--well past a regulatory deadline to complete treatment
by 2028. In 2002, DOE decided to accelerate cleanup by about 20 years
and reduce the project's $56 billion cost by $20 billion. In the short
term, however, several factors, including the accelerated approach and
contractor performance problems, have lengthened construction time and
raised contract costs by $1.4 billion to $5.7 billion. Because of
long-standing problems that preceded Hanford's contract, DOE has
instituted reforms in both contract and project management. DOE's 2000
Hanford contract implemented the contract performance reforms, including
linking contractor fees to cost and schedule performance. The contract
did not, however, implement project management reforms, such as an
overall plan to accomplish waste treatment by the regulatory deadline.
Not implementing project management reforms at the outset has added to
the risks in cleaning up Hanford's tank waste. First, to start quickly,
DOE committed to a "fast-track" process in which design, technology
development, and construction are performed concurrently on different
aspects of the project. For projects of Hanford's complexity, this
approach is not compatible with controlling costs and schedules. Second,
DOE has delayed completing analyses needed to determine the most
cost-effective approach to waste separation and may have missed savings
opportunities of at least $50 million a year. Third, DOE has not
adequately defined or communicated the potential effects of a legal
challenge to its overall plan for minimizing how much high-level waste
is disposed of in an underground repository. Unless effectively managed,
an adverse legal outcome could increase project costs by tens of
billions of dollars.

to download the entire report, go to http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04611.pdf
and click on the report number

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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