Nuclear Materials

The Department of Energy's (DOE) Rocky Flats Plant, near Denver, Colorado, processed plutonium for nuclear weapons for nearly 40 years. Plutonium residues, a by-product of this activity, have been accumulating at the plant and DOE now faces removing this material. The plant's latest inventory records for lean residues (materials with relatively low amounts of plutonium) show that 97,000 kilograms of solid residues and 14,000 liters of liquid residues--together containing about 2,900 kilograms of plutonium--are stored at the plant. To clean up Rocky Flats, DOE will have to remove these residues, a difficult task because the residues contain combustible materials and other characteristics that preclude shipping. DOE has not yet decided how it will eliminate the residue backlog at Rocky Flats. The agency is considering three basic alternatives--processing the residues to separate out the plutonium, shipping them to other facilities for processing, or disposing of them as wastes.

GAO found that: (1) as of November 1991, the plant had about 97,000 kilograms of solid residues containing 2,800 kilograms of plutonium, and over 14,000 liters of liquid residues containing 91 kilograms of plutonium; (2) the DOE decision to cease plant operations requires residue removal and plant decontamination; (3) DOE can not remove the residues in their present form because they do not meet shipping and disposal requirements; (4) DOE has been studying three options for removal, but will not make its final decision prior to 1993, although it has developed a preliminary removal plan in response to a compliance order issued by the Colorado Department of Health; (5) the plant's limited capacity to process or prepare the residues for shipment will create substantial additional costs; and (6) DOE is developing a long-term strategy for managing its entire plutonium inventory, is preparing comprehensive cost estimates, and is assessing the availability of waste disposal facilities.