Major Management Challenges and Program Risks

This publication is part of GAO's performance and accountability series which provides a comprehensive assessment of government management, particularly the management challenges and program risks confronting federal agencies. Using a "performance-based management" approach, this landmark set of reports focuses on the results of government programs--how they affect the American taxpayer--rather than on the processes of government. This approach integrates thinking about organization, product and service delivery, use of technology, and human capital practices into every decision about the results that the government hopes to achieve. The series includes an overview volume discussing governmentwide management issues and 20 individual reports on the challenges facing specific cabinet departments and independent agencies. The reports take advantage of the wealth of new information made possible by management reform legislation, including audited financial statements for major federal agencies, mandated by the Chief Financial Officers Act, and strategic and performance plans required by the Government Performance and Results Act. In a companion volume to this series, GAO also updates its high-risk list of government operations and programs that are particularly vulnerable to waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement.

GAO noted that: (1) NRC lacks assurance that its current regulatory approach ensures safety; (2) NRC assumes that plants are safe if they operate as designed and follow NRC's regulations; (3) however, NRC's regulations and other guidance do not define, for either a licensee or the public, the conditions necessary for a plant's safety; (4) NRC's oversight has been inadequate and slow; (5) although NRC's indicators show that conditions throughout the nuclear energy industry have generally improved, they also show that several nuclear plants are chronically poor performers; (6) NRC's culture and organizational structure have made the process of addressing concerns with the agency's regulatory approach slow and ineffective; (7) even before competition became an issue, NRC and the nuclear utility industry embarked on initiatives to address long-standing regulatory issues, including the management challenges described in this report, in a way that would ensure that NRC carried out its regulatory mission more effectively and efficiently; (8) in GAO's review of NRC's first annual performance plan, covering program activities set out in the agency's fiscal year 1999 budget, it noted that the plan could provide a clearer picture of intended performance across NRC and better discuss the strategies and resources the agency will use to achieve its performance goals; and (9) although the plan lists specific strategies NRC will use against licensees that fail to meet regulatory standards, including halting operations if performance falls below an acceptable level, NRC has not developed specific criteria for what is "acceptable."