Nuclear Cleanup: Progress Made at Rocky Flats, but Closure by 2006 Is Unlikely, and Costs May Increase (Letter Report, 02/28/2001, GAO/GAO-01-284)
GAO reviewed several aspects of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Rocky
Flats Environmental Technology site cleanup and closure plan.
Specifically, GAO reviewed (1) the status and cost of the Rocky Flats
closure project, (2) the likelihood that the site will be closed by
2006, and (3) the management actions needed, if any, to improve the
likelihood of the project's success. GAO found that in the more than
five years that it has been the major contractor at the Rocky Flats
site, Kaiser-Hill has made significant progress toward cleaning up the
site, but the majority of the work--and the most complicated--remains to
be done. Because of the project's difficulty, DOE entered into a
cost-plus-incentive-fee contract with Kaiser-Hill. If completed on time,
the project will cost about $7.5 billion from the signing of the first
cleanup contract with Kaiser-Hill in July 1995 through the 2006 closure
date, and about $1.4 billion more thereafter, for such activities as
site monitoring and maintenance and for contractor employees' retirement
benefits. These overall costs will increase if additional work is
required or the 2006 target date is not achieved. Kaiser-Hill and DOE
are unlikely to meet the December 2006 target closure date. A number of
significant and complex challenges must be overcome first. Kaiser-Hill
and DOE are developing their respective plans for managing the closure
project, but DOE needs to take additional steps to effectively implement
its plan.
--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------
REPORTNUM: GAO-01-284
TITLE: Nuclear Cleanup: Progress Made at Rocky Flats, but Closure
by 2006 Is Unlikely, and Costs May Increase
DATE: 02/28/2001
SUBJECT: Nuclear weapons
Nuclear waste management
Nuclear waste disposal
Schedule slippages
Cost overruns
Pollution control
Contract administration
IDENTIFIER: DOE Rocky Flats Cleanup Agreement
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