Nuclear Cleanup

During 50 years of nuclear weapons production, the Energy Department (DOE) and its predecessor agencies have generated huge amounts of radioactive wastes that have contaminated soil and groundwater. As a result, DOE faces a massive, complex, and costly cleanup effort. During the next several years, DOE and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will decide on methods to be used for environmental cleanup at DOE sites. Standards for "how clean is clean enough" and information about future land uses of DOE sites would help in selecting appropriate remedial actions. Past efforts to develop cleanup standards for radioactive substances were unsuccessful. This report determines (1) how cleanup levels are now determined for DOE sites, (2) the status and the likelihood of success of EPA's efforts to develop cleanup standards for radioactive substances, (3) the status of DOE's land use planning efforts, and (4) what hurdles would need to be overcome if land use planning were to be effectively implemented in determining cleanup levels.

GAO found that: (1) because there are no comprehensive and specific federal standards for cleaning up radioactive contamination, EPA and DOE use other appropriate federal and state environmental standards in selecting remedial action for DOE sites; (2) the current process for identifying cleanup requirements is time-consuming and contentious, since standards are individually developed for each DOE site; (3) the lack of uniform standards results in varying cleanup levels and makes it difficult for DOE to plan and estimate the costs for its cleanup and waste disposal program; (4) the success of interagency efforts to establish standards is uncertain because of the complex and controversial nature of the issues to be resolved; (5) EPA plans to publish a proposed rule for radionuclide cleanup based on the interagency committee's recommendations, but it has not established a timeframe for issuing a final rule; (6) based on an advisory committee recommendation, DOE has begun using land use planning to develop tailored remediation plans for its sites and reduce costs; and (7) obstacles to effective land use planning include unclear authority to consider other than residential uses for contaminated sites and the lack of guidance on monitoring restricted uses of residually contaminated sites.

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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