Nuclear Waste

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory spent the bulk of its $32.5 million in nuclear waste program funding on scientific and technical work. About $1.5 million of this money, however, went for apparently unrelated research that the Department of Energy (DOE) authorized even though such funds may be used only for purposes spelled out in the Nuclear Waste Act. DOE, in allowing at least two of its other laboratories to use nuclear waste funds for independent research, did not ensure that the labs limited the use of these funds to activities covered by the act. While Livermore's yearly spending on scientific and technical work has fallen by about 60 percent since 1989, the expense of managing this declining workload is expected to decrease only by about 17 percent. Livermore officials attribute the relatively small decline in management costs to the need to meet basic regulatory and project control requirements. DOE has not determined if more efficient ways exist to manage the limited work assigned to Livermore, such as transferring this work to another project contractor. Finally, Livermore awarded all of its project subcontractors on a noncompetitive basis without adequate justification, bringing into question whether the contracts were reasonably priced or other qualified contractors were fairly considered. Livermore is now instituting new procurement policies and procedures that may correct this procurement weakness.

GAO found that: (1) in fiscal year (FY) 1990 and FY 1991, Livermore used almost 5 percent of the $32.5 million in nuclear waste funds it spent to finance independent research and development activities that were not directly related to the authorized purposes; (2) Livermore obtains independent research funds by charging overhead for work it performs for DOE, but neither DOE nor the laboratories reconcile nuclear waste fund assessments with independent research project expenditures; (3) Livermore does not determine whether its independent research projects benefit the nuclear waste disposal program; (4) DOE maintains that independent research contributes to the vitality of laboratories and that federal programs must financially support such research; (5) the DOE Los Alamos National Laboratory diverted $1.6 million in nuclear waste funds for independent research in FY 1990 and FY 1991, and the DOE Sandia National Laboratory intends to begin such diversion in 1992; (6) DOE deemphasis on waste package development has sharply decreased Livermore's spending on scientific and technical activities, although Livermore's management expenses for the decreased workload have remained constant; (7) DOE project managers stated that Livermore's project management costs reflected DOE increased emphasis on quality assurance, project control, and records and data management; and (8) Livermore did not adequately justify its noncompetitive award of 7 contracts totalling about $1.8 million for Yucca Mountain project activities between FY 1988 and FY 1990.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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