Energy Department Implements 5 of 30 Critical GAO Recommendations

Why it Matters

A Government Accountability Office report released this week reveals that of 30 priority recommendations issued in April 2025, the agency has implemented just five. With 24 priority recommendations still open and 270 total open recommendations across the department, DOE is falling behind on critical fixes that could save billions in taxpayer money and improve nuclear security.

The stakes are enormous. DOE carries $538.6 billion of the federal government's total $667.3 billion in environmental liabilities. The agency is overseeing a $295 billion nuclear modernization effort over the next decade. And it manages infrastructure that faces mounting risks from weather and geopolitical threats. Yet the department is moving slowly on reforms that GAO has identified as essential.

The implementation gap matters because it suggests systemic dysfunction at an agency responsible for America's most sensitive national security assets and largest environmental cleanup costs. When GAO Department of Energy recommendations languish unaddressed, the public bears the cost in delayed cleanups, inflated budgets, and deferred risks.

The Scope

The numbers tell a stark story about DOE's implementation record. As of July, the agency has completed just 5 of the 30 priority recommendations GAO identified in April 2025. Two additional recommendations lost priority status, suggesting they were downgraded rather than addressed. One new priority recommendation was added, bringing the total of unresolved critical issues to 24.

The broader picture is even more concerning. Beyond the priority recommendations, DOE has 270 total open recommendations sitting in the pipeline. This includes both high-priority items and routine compliance matters. For context, the government-wide implementation rate for recommendations made five years ago stands at 77 percent. DOE's own rate is 73 percent, trailing the federal average and suggesting the department struggles more than most agencies to implement required changes.

The environmental liability alone underscores why these recommendations matter. According to the report, federal environmental liabilities have been growing for the past 20 years, accumulating to $667.3 billion government-wide. DOE accounts for more than 80 percent of that burden, a concentration of liability that demands urgent action.

Modernization Challenges

Among the most consequential open recommendations is one addressing the National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) troubled modernization program. The report identified that NNSA has faced significant delays and cost overruns in modernizing the nuclear security enterprise and U.S. stockpile weapons. The agency recommended that NNSA develop a life cycle cost estimate for establishing its pit production capability that aligns with GAO best practices for cost estimating.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated in 2025 that DOE's nuclear modernization effort will cost $295 billion over the next 10 years. Without rigorous cost controls and realistic projections, that figure could climb further. The recommendation sits among 24 unresolved priority items, suggesting the department has not yet committed the resources to implement this critical reform.

Acquisition and program management for NNSA and DOE's Office of Environmental Management are designated areas on the GAO High Risk List, a designation reserved for programs with serious management challenges. The persistent delays and cost overruns in nuclear modernization exemplify why this status exists.

The Hanford Waste Treatment Crisis

One of GAO's most urgent Department of Energy open recommendations involves the Hanford site in Washington State, where the federal government has struggled for decades to manage radioactive waste. GAO recommended that DOE pause work on a waste treatment facility at Hanford until it takes several actions, including considering the results of an independent analysis of high-level waste treatment options.

The recommendation reflects a pattern of cost overruns and technical failures at the facility. Yet as of July, this recommendation remains open, meaning work at Hanford has not been paused pending the independent analysis. The delay carries real consequences. GAO also recommended that DOE develop complex-wide analyses that identify optimal waste disposal strategies and alternatives to save billions in cleanup costs and accelerate the cleanup process. Without implementing this recommendation, the GAO report suggests that the department continues to throw money at inefficient solutions.

DOE's Office of Environmental Management is designated as a GAO High Risk List area, a status reflecting years of management failures and cost overruns, and the lack of implementation on the Hanford recommendations show how the office earned that designation.

Energy Infrastructure and Strategic Reserves

Beyond nuclear weapons and environmental cleanup, GAO identified risks in other critical energy functions. DOE is responsible for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a strategic asset that buffers the nation against supply disruptions. GAO recommended that DOE conduct periodic reviews of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to provide Congress with timely information regarding costs and benefits of various reserve sizes.

This recommendation targets a gap in transparency. Congress has limited visibility into whether the current reserve size remains optimal given changing geopolitical and economic conditions. The recommendation sits unimplemented, leaving lawmakers without the data needed to make informed decisions about this critical asset.

More broadly, U.S. energy infrastructure and supplies face risks from adverse weather and geopolitical events. DOE's responsibilities span from grid resilience to nuclear security to strategic reserves. Yet the department is falling behind on basic oversight and analysis functions that would help it manage these risks more effectively.

The Broader Accountability Challenge

The GAO report, released publicly on July 9, was addressed to Chris Wright, Secretary of Energy. It represents the formal assessment of Orice Williams Brown, Acting Comptroller General of the United States, regarding DOE's management of critical national security and environmental functions.

The department's slow implementation rate reflects a broader challenge in federal accountability. When agencies fail to implement GAO recommendations, they signal that oversight mechanisms lack teeth. The priority recommendations process, established by statute in the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, was designed to ensure that agencies treat the most critical recommendations as urgent business.

Yet 15 months after GAO issued 30 priority recommendations, DOE has addressed only five. That timeline suggests either insufficient urgency at the department or insufficient consequences for non-compliance. Either way, the public suffers. Billions in environmental cleanup costs mount. Nuclear modernization budgets inflate. Strategic decisions about energy infrastructure are made without adequate analysis.

Cybersecurity of the nation is a government-wide high-risk area with direct implications for DOE, which manages sensitive nuclear weapons information and critical energy infrastructure. The department's track record on implementing recommendations raises questions about whether it can manage these risks effectively.

The GAO report is a snapshot of a recurring accountability problem. Unless DOE significantly accelerates implementation of these 24 open priority recommendations, the public will continue bearing the cost of delayed reforms, inflated budgets, and deferred risks.

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