Why It Matters

A complex legal and regulatory framework governing Department of Energy nuclear waste cleanup has led to inconsistent approaches, regulator disputes, and unachievable requirements that are making cleanup take longer and cost more, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report publicly released Oct. 16. The Department of Energy (DOE) estimates the cleanup mission could run until 2100 and carry a price tag of $641 billion to $840 billion. ​

The Big Picture

Much of the waste at DOE sites is "mixed waste," containing both radioactive and hazardous constituents, and cleanup proceeds largely under three laws, each with different requirements, applications, and regulators. The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 gives DOE authority over radiological portions, while the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA) governs hazardous components under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) oversight.

The majority of DOE cleanup sites were created during World War II and the Cold War to research and produce nuclear weapons, and DOE entered cleanup agreements with EPA and states in the 1990s, before the full extent of contamination was known; those agreements contain hundreds of milestones DOE has sometimes struggled to meet.

Experts at GAO's National Academies meetings said some states are taking legal and regulatory actions addressing the radiological aspects of nuclear waste that may exceed a state's authority under EPA-authorized RCRA programs, and those disputes have lengthened cleanup schedules and added billions in federal costs. EPA officials told GAO that EPA currently lacks authority to challenge state actions that are at least as stringent as federal requirements.

Land-use assumptions compound the problem: DOE has agreed to clean up large portions of some sites to residential standards even where no residential use is planned, without evaluating less stringent alternatives, while the Rocky Flats site in Colorado illustrates what a realistic assumption can achieve. After Congress designated Rocky Flats a national wildlife refuge in 2001, the estimated cleanup cost fell from $23 billion to about $10 billion.

Groundwater requirements add further pressure, as the legal framework often mandates cleanup to drinking-water standards even where future drinking-water use is considered unrealistic, and standards for certain contaminants rely on scientific information from the 1960s that may affect cleanup feasibility.

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The Bottom Line

GAO directed six recommendations for executive action to DOE and EPA, and all six remain open. DOE received three recommendations:

  • To evaluate cleanup costs under multiple future land-use assumptions before selecting a cleanup approach (Recommendation 1, open, not concurred);
  • To develop, with EPA, options for cleaning up iodine-129 and other beta-emitting radionuclides in groundwater using current scientific methods and report those options to Congress (Recommendation 3, open, concurred); and
  • To establish, with EPA, an interagency expert task force to review high-priority decisions and disagreements driving higher costs and longer schedules (Recommendation 5, open, concurred).

EPA received three recommendations:

  • To clarify guidance on future land-use assumptions at DOE sites (Recommendation 2, open, concurred);
  • To develop, with DOE, the same groundwater-cleanup options and report them to Congress (Recommendation 4, open, not concurred); and
  • To establish, with DOE, the same interagency task force (Recommendation 6, open, concurred).

GAO also made three matters for congressional consideration, all open: clarifying the preemptive scope of the Atomic Energy Act, creating a mechanism for DOE to appeal certain state requirements to EPA, and providing more specific direction on future land-use assumptions.

All three matters for congressional consideration and all six executive-action recommendations are marked open, while experts say disagreements between DOE and states have added billions in federal costs and lengthened cleanup schedules.

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