Nuclear Waste

To clean up radioactive and hazardous wastes at its Hanford Site in Washington state, the Department of Energy (DOE) will sink nearly 900 monitoring wells over the next several years at a cost of more than $270 million. The wells are designed to provide information on the nature and the extent of soil and groundwater contamination. Recent studies have suggested that DOE could substantially reduce its costs for sinking the wells by using more efficient drilling methods. Although the Hanford Site contractors have implemented many of the recommended cost-saving measures, other actions could further reduce well-drilling costs. These actions include (1) adopting faster and less expensive well-drilling technologies, (2) using the well-drilling program's work force more efficiently, and (3) centralizing the management of the well-drilling program to improve its effectiveness. DOE and the Hanford contractors, however, have made little effort to take advantage of these opportunities.

GAO found that: (1) well installation costs could be lowered by using more efficient drilling methods; (2) DOE directed its contractors to study drilling cost reductions and set a goal for its drilling contractor to lower drilling costs by 10 percent over a 6-month period in 1991; (3) the contractors' April 1991 report recommended 104 specific ways to reduce drilling costs or improve efficiency; (4) although the implemented recommendations reduced drilling costs, the savings were offset by other factors, and the drilling contractor did not meet its 10-percent cost reduction goal; (5) faster drilling methods, particularly in noncontaminated areas, would reduce costs without jeopardizing safety or sampling standards; (6) the management contractor field-tested two faster drilling methods that could reduce costs by 33 percent and 40 percent respectively; (7) DOE has not developed a plan for determining which drilling technology to use or where to use it; (8) efficient use of well-drilling staff, such as cross-training in multiple tasks and changing work crews' composition and duties, would reduce costs, but this would involve sensitive labor relations discussions; and (9) consolidation of management responsibilities into one project would reduce costs by eliminating duplication, uncoordinated planning, and oversight by more than one DOE office.

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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