Improvements Needed in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Office of Inspector and Auditor

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is responsible for regulating the commercial use of nuclear power in the United States, with the goal of preserving public health and safety and protecting the environment. To help NRC carry out its duties, an Office of Inspector and Auditor (OIA) was created to provide the Commissioners with oversight over NRC programs and activities and to make recommendations for corrective actions. OIA is supposed to eliminate waste, fraud, and inefficiency within NRC by functioning in an independent audit capacity.

To be effective, any audit organization must have: (1) a capable, professional, and motivated staff; (2) an adequate planning and prioritization system; (3) a set of policies, procedures, and mechanisms for guiding and monitoring the staff; and (4) a system for following up on past work. Weaknesses in any one of these areas contribute to work which can be less than satisfactory in quality, timeliness, and impact. Such weaknesses presently exist in OIA operations. OIA has not followed Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requirements and GAO guidance in planning and prioritizing its work. As a result, OIA has focused too much of its attention on administrative and personnel matters rather than on the more important NRC programs and has not concentrated its investigative resources on work aimed at eliminating fraud and waste within NRC. Organizationally, OIA is independent but, functionally, GAO found examples where OIA independence needs to be strengthened.

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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