NNSA Should Improve Its Strategy for Managing Anticipated Waste from Defense Activities
GAO-25-107636
Published: Dec 11, 2024. Publicly Released: Dec 11, 2024.
But NNSA’s strategy for treating, storing, and disposing of the new waste isn’t comprehensive and doesn’t fully address all the legal requirements. For example, NNSA hasn’t identified all sources and amounts of waste that may be generated in the next 11-25 years, or coordinated plans for its disposal.
NNSA’s strategy includes a mission statement, but the other key components of a comprehensive strategic plan are partially or minimally addressed. In addition, the strategy does not fully address statutory requirements. For example:
Generated waste amounts. Though the strategy’s scope is a 25-year period, the 25-year outlook does not include anticipated waste from important upcoming activities, such as reestablishing plutonium pit production capability or surplus plutonium disposition.
Coordination with the Office of Environmental Management (EM). The strategy recommends establishing formal coordination mechanisms with EM, which has responsibilities for waste disposal, but it does not define formal coordination or describe NNSA’s plans to create this mechanism.
Cost estimates. NNSA estimated costs of about $2.5 billion over the next 5 years, but the estimate may not be reasonable, in part because NNSA used inconsistent and unclear information and did not perform risk and uncertainty analyses.
Disposal options. The strategy did not identify disposal facilities, including any needed modifications. It states that other locations that could be used to dispose of high-risk waste should be identified or developed.
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