United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1999-02-26 monographic deposited born digital 37 p. GA 1.13:RCED-99-48 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-48 P0b002ee180372f8e f:rc99048 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-48 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-48 RCED-99-48 Interagency relations Nuclear waste management Radioactive wastes Cost analysis Nuclear facilities Strategic planning Environmental policies Radioactive waste disposal DOE Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program Army Corps of Engineers Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program Letter Report RCED

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Army Corps of Engineers' Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP), focusing on the: (1) Corps' cost and schedule estimates for cleaning up the FUSRAP sites; (2) Corps' progress in meeting milestones for site cleanups, FUSRAP staffing levels, and environmental document preparation; and (3) transition of the program from the Department of Energy (DOE) to the Corps.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) when the Corps took over the program, it reviewed DOE's cost and schedule estimates for the 22 sites, visited the sites, and developed new cost and schedule estimates for each; (2) the Corps' cost estimates, in total, are higher than estimates previously developed by DOE; (3) the Corps estimated that it would cost up to $2.25 billion and would take until after 2004 to complete cleanup at all sites; (4) however, there is potential for the $2.25 billion estimate to increase in the future because no proven technology is available to clean up one site and characterization is incomplete for others; (5) DOE had estimated that it would cost up to $1.5 billion and would take until as late as 2006 to complete the cleanup; (6) an examination of the individual cost estimates, however, shows that much of the difference between DOE's and the Corps' estimates can be attributed to two sites where new information became available after the program was transferred or the scope of the cleanup alternatives was changed; (7) since the program was transferred to the Corps in October 1997, the Corps has achieved or exceeded its milestones for planned cleanup activities at 16 of the 22 sites; (8) the Corps did not achieve one or more of its milestones at five sites, and one site did not have any milestones for fiscal year (FY) 1998; (9) to accomplish its goals for the program, in FY 1998, the Corps had 71 full-time equivalents involved in program management and support; (10) in regard to completing the environmental documentation necessary to begin removal and remedial work, the Corps has made considerable progress, including issuing two Records of Decision and five Engineering Evaluation/Cost Assessments that provide detailed plans for site cleanups; (11) during the program's transition from DOE to the Corps, the Corps established transition teams and worked with departmental officials to transfer the 22 sites; (12) when the program was transferred, several issues remained unresolved; (13) only one issue remains to be formally resolved, specifically, which agency should be accountable for property management for the sites while they are in the program; and (14) attempts to resolve this issue through negotiation of a memorandum of understanding between the Corps and DOE are ongoing. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-48/html/GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-48.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-48/pdf/GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-48.pdf GAO/RCED-99-48 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-48 Letter Report GAO/RCED-99-48; Nuclear Waste: Corps of Engineers' Progress in Cleaning Up 22 Nuclear Sites; Interagency relations Nuclear waste management Radioactive wastes Cost analysis Nuclear facilities Strategic planning Environmental policies Radioactive waste disposal DOE Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program Army Corps of Engineers Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program Title 42 Section 2140(a)(2) Title 42 Section 2201(i)(3) 42 U.S.C. 2140(a)(2) 42 U.S.C. 2201(i)(3) Public Law 105-62 Public Law 105-245