Energy and Science Issue Area Plan--Fiscal Years 1995-1996 (Letter
Report, 08/01/95, GAO/IAP-95-20).
GAO provided information on its Energy and Science issue area plan for
fiscal years 1995 through 1996.
GAO plans to: (1) examine the missions, organizational structure, and
management practices of the Department of Energy (DOE) and related
energy and science agencies; (2) determine whether the federal
government is using the most cost-effective ways to deal with the
safety, security, and environmental legacies of nuclear weapons; (3)
ensure that DOE is effectively using competition to obtain the lowest
prices in energy markets, while providing secure and environmentally
sound sources of supply; and (4) examine the appropriateness and
outcomes of the federal government's sizeable investment in science and
technology programs.
--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------
REPORTNUM: IAP-95-20
TITLE: Energy and Science Issue Area Plan--Fiscal Years 1995-1996
DATE: 08/01/95
SUBJECT: Cost effectiveness analysis
Nuclear waste management
Nuclear weapons
Energy supplies
Competition
Prioritizing
Agency missions
Scientific research
Nuclear facility safety
IDENTIFIER: DOE Cleanup Technology Development Program
DOE National Energy Policy Plan
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Cover
================================================================ COVER
Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division
August 1995
ENERGY AND SCIENCE ISSUE AREA PLAN
FISCAL YEARS 1995-96
GAO/IAP-95-20
Abbreviations
=============================================================== ABBREV
DOE - test
NRC - test
FOREWORD
============================================================ Chapter 0
As the investigative arm of Congress and the nation's auditor, the
General Accounting Office is charged with following the federal
dollar wherever it goes. Reflecting stringent standards of
objectivity and independence, GAO's audits, evaluations, and
investigations promote a more efficient and cost-effective
government; expose waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in federal
programs; help Congress target budget reductions; assess financial
information management; and alert Congress to developing trends that
may have significant fiscal or budgetary consequences. In fulfilling
its responsibilities, GAO performs original research and uses
hundreds of databases or creates its own to compile and analyze
information.
To ensure that GAO's resources are directed toward the most important
issues facing Congress, each of GAO's 35 issue areas develops a
strategic plan that describes its key issues and their significance,
how those issues influence audit objectives, the focus of its work,
and the planned major job starts. Each issue area relies heavily on
input from congressional committees, agency officials, and
subject-matter experts in developing its strategic plan.
The Energy and Science issue area focuses on the Department of Energy
(DOE), the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. In
addition, it reviews science and technology issues on a
governmentwide basis, with particular emphasis on the programs and
activities of the National Science Foundation and the Department of
Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology, Patent and
Trademark Office, and National Technical Information Service.
Our work in the Energy and Science area--where federal funding is
approaching $100 billion a year--is designed to assist Congress in
(1) examining the role and continued need for a federal presence in
many of the programs and activities; (2) exposing incidences of
waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement; and (3) promoting a smaller,
more efficient, and cost-effective government.
The principal issues are
-- examining the missions, organizational structures, and
management practices of the Department of Energy and related
energy and science agencies in view of changing national
priorities;
-- determining whether the federal government is using the most
cost-effective ways to deal with the safety, security, and
environmental legacies of nuclear weapons as well as nuclear
power in the post-Cold War era;
-- ensuring that federal policies are effectively using competition
to obtain the lowest prices in energy markets, while providing
secure and environmentally sound sources of supply; and
-- examining the appropriateness and outcomes of priority-setting
and evaluation measures for the federal government's sizeable
investment in science and technology activities.
In the pages that follow, we describe our key planned work on these
important issues.
Because events may significantly affect this plan, our planning
process provides for updating this plan and responding quickly to
emerging issues. If you have any questions or suggestions, please
call me at (202) 512-3841, or my associate, Bernice Steinhardt, at
(202) 512-6543.
Victor S. Rezendes
Director
Energy and Science Issues
CONTENTS
============================================================ Chapter 1
FOREWORD
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:1
1
TABLE I: KEY ISSUES
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:2
4
TABLE II: PLANNED MAJOR WORK
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:3
6
TABLE I: KEY ISSUES
============================================================ Chapter 2
Issue Significance
----------------------------- -------------------------------------------------
Examining the missions and Changing national priorities and significant
management of energy and congressional interest in reforming the federal
science agencies: Are the government and reducing its budget have made DOE
missions and management and related energy and science agencies prime
practices of the Department candidates for restructuring and/or
of Energy and related energy dismantlement. Reevaluating agencies' missions is
and science agencies a fundamental part of any major restructuring
consistent with changing process because it involves determining if those
national priorities? agencies should remain in their present form and
if their missions could be performed elsewhere or
eliminated altogether. Significant restructuring,
however, would likely take several years to
accomplish.
Addressing the consequences Priority once given to stockpiling nuclear
and implications of the weapons and rapidly building new nuclear power
nuclear age: Is the plants in the private sector has given way to an
government dealing in the emphasis on reducing weapons stockpiles;
most cost-effective way with safeguarding and preventing the proliferation of
the safety, security, and nuclear materials and technologies, both in the
environmental legacies of United States and abroad; cleaning up,
nuclear weapons and nuclear dismantling, and disposing of waste from old
power in a post-Cold War era? nuclear facilities; and restructuring the nuclear
weapons complex to meet post-Cold War needs. All
this must be accomplished while protecting the
safety and health of workers and the public.
These new priorities are costly, are often
controversial, and will require decades to
complete; moreover, they come at a time of
increasing attention to cutting the cost of
government.
Achieving competition and The past 2 years have witnessed major regulatory
security of energy supplies: reforms to promote more competition, consumer
Are government policies choices, and lower prices in energy markets. For
maximizing competition in example, the gas and electric industry has been
energy markets and ensuring restructured, and regulators are experimenting
reliable and environmentally- with more market-based approaches to energy
acceptable energy supplies? production and use. Meanwhile, the United States
is importing more than 50 percent of the oil it
consumes. Because oil imports are expected to
grow, particularly from Middle East countries,
supply disruptions might occur and trade deficits
might increase. Energy production and use also
release many harmful pollutants into the
atmosphere, raising concerns, both domestically
and internationally, about the effects of acid
rain and global warming.
Assessing the outcomes of With a limited budget, Congress and the
federal investment in science administration are faced with the increasingly
and technology programs: Are difficult challenge of finding better ways to
the intended outcomes of prioritize and coordinate funding for science and
federal science and technology-related programs--now scattered over
technology-related programs 20 agencies--as well as to evaluate the results
being achieved and are and effects of such spending. Critical decisions
priority-setting and must be made on the proper balance between basic
evaluation measures credible and applied research as well as among various
and appropriate? competing needs and the appropriate role of
government in collaborating with industry to help
maintain competitiveness in global markets.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Objectives Focus of work
------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------
�Identify missions, programs, and activities �Mission and structure of
within DOE and related energy and science DOE
agencies that can be downsized, restructured,
privatized, or eliminated. �NRC regulatory activities
�Evaluate DOE's efforts to achieve mission �DOE contracting reforms
objectives and to implement contracting reforms.
�Information systems
�Identify ways to strengthen information systems supporting new management
to support DOE's oversight of contractors. oversight
�Recommend ways to improve agencies' management �Opportunities to downsize,
and operations. privatize, or eliminate
agency programs and
activities
�Recommend cost-saving ways to deal with safety, �Effectiveness and efficiency
health, and environmental risks at nuclear in reducing the nuclear
sites. weapons infrastructure
�Evaluate DOE's efforts to develop a nuclear �U.S. efforts to dismantle
weapons infrastructure that responds to current nuclear weapons and store or
U.S. needs. dispose of excess materials
�Identify better ways to dismantle nuclear �Environmental and health
weapons, store nuclear materials, and clean up risks at sites
and dispose of waste from nuclear weapons and
civilian nuclear facilities. �Cleanup and disposal of
waste from civilian and
�Determine if U.S. arms control and defense nuclear facilities
nonproliferation efforts serve post-Cold War
security interests. �U.S. arms control and
nonproliferation efforts
�Identify opportunities for additional regulatory �Federal initiatives to
reforms in the natural gas and electricity promote competition in
sectors to increase market competition. regulated energy markets
�Assess the government's ability to ensure a �National Energy Policy Plan
stable and secure supply of energy at reasonable
prices and adequate emergency preparedness. �Environmental impact of
energy production and use
�Evaluate programs designed to foster a balanced,
environmentally sound, and sustainable energy �Deregulation of electric
future. utility industry
�Analyze the effectiveness of federal efforts to �Energy efficiency, renewable
promote more efficient energy use by public and energy sources, and
private sectors. alternative fuels
�Identify ways to improve the processes for �Overlap and duplication of
establishing goals and coordinating and science and technology
evaluating program results. programs
�Assess progress and provide timely feedback on �Federal programs to improve
the effects of key federal and private sector manufacturing technologies
partnerships.
�Research activities at
�Identify opportunities for savings or federal laboratories and
alternative ways to achieve science and universities
technology goals.
�Evaluating results and
�Recommend better approaches and methodologies to impact of scientific research
evaluate science and technology programs.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TABLE II: PLANNED MAJOR WORK
============================================================ Chapter 3
Issue Planned major job starts
----------------------- -------------------------------------------------------
Examining the missions �Identify programs and activities that are no longer
and management of essential to DOE's mission.
energy and science �Identify lessons learned from DOE's experience in
agencies acquiring major systems.
�Reassess NRC's regulatory mission and functions.
�Follow up on DOE's implementation of major contracting
reforms.
�Review information resource management activities of
DOE's contractors.
�Identify potential savings at DOE and other agencies
through "budget scrubs."
�Analyze issues surrounding privatizing power marketing
agencies.
Addressing the �Assess the cost-effectiveness of DOE's environmental
consequences and restoration activities.
implications of the �Assess the accuracy of DOE's estimates for improving
nuclear cleanup productivity.
age �Assess the cost-effectiveness of the Cleanup
Technology Development Program.
�Identify ways to reduce the cost of DOE's landlord
services.
�Evaluate DOE's ability to maintain nuclear weapons.
�Analyze security costs at DOE's facilities.
�Assess the effectiveness of U.S. assistance to
increase safety of nuclear facilities in former Soviet
Union countries.
�Assess the status of DOE's efforts to convert Russian
research reactors from using high enriched uranium to
using low enriched uranium.
�Analyze U.S. and international efforts to contain
radiation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
�Analyze U.S. efforts to assist the Russians in closing
aging plutonium production reactors.
�Analyze the fixed costs of maintaining the Nevada Test
Site and the appropriateness of allocating these costs
to the civilian nuclear waste disposal program.
�Assess the quality and effectiveness of DOE's tunnel
boring activities at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.
Achieving competition �Assess the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's
and security of energy efforts to promote incentives and market-based rates in
supplies the gas pipeline industry.
�Analyze DOE's National Energy Policy Plan and related
Department of Commerce and DOE studies dealing with oil
import vulnerability.
�Determine the need for the international energy
agencies' emergency oil-sharing system.
�Determine the need for and potential impact of
mandates to use alternative fuels for private vehicle
fleets.
�Assess U.S. actions to deal with global climate
change.
�Analyze management of state-administered energy
conservation programs.
�Analyze issues surrounding the restructuring of the
electric power industry.
�Assess progress in meeting mandates of the Energy
Policy Act of 1992.
�Analyze hydropower licensing and decommissioning.
Assessing outcomes of �Assess the role of Office of Science and Technology
federal investment in policy in establishing priorities for funding science
science and technology and technology initiatives.
programs �Assess DOE's approach to developing fusion energy.
�Assess the Advanced Technology Program.
�Assess the effect of the Small Business Technology
Transfer Program.
�Identify ways to develop renewable energy
technologies.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*** End of document. ***