A May 1994 study by the Congressional Budget Office that examined DOE's environmental management funding needs and policy issues. It is not available on the Web. Call (202) 226-2809 to order a print copy.
Complex Cleanup: The Environmental Legacy of Nuclear Weapons Production
This report, published in 1991 by the now defunct Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, is a comprehensive characterization of the environmental restoration and waste management responsibilities faced by the Department of Energy.
This assessment, released October 2000 by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Armed Services' Special Oversight Panel on DOE Reorganization, examines the creation of the NNSA, its responsibilities, and how it might improve its management of the nuclear complex through administrative changes and increased security measures.
Formerly
Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program Report to Congress
On Oct. 13, 1997, the FY 1998 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill was signed into law. It
transfers management of the Formerls Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) from
the Department of Energy to the U.S Army Corp of Engineers (USACE). This report, submitted
to Congress by USACE, discusses the feasibility of DOE's proposed 2002 completion date for
FUSRAP.
Guarding Nuclear Reactors and
Material From Terrorists and Thieves
This brief article by George Bunn and Fritz Steinhausler in “Arms Control Today” discusses the importance of increasing security at nuclear weapons storage/ transport sites in the U.S. and abroad.
Improving the Environment: An Evaluation of DOE's Environmental Management Program
At the request of the Department of Energy, the National Research Council examined the scientific, technical, and institutional barriers to achieving cost-effective solutions to environmental management problems. The committee's report, issued in 1996, evaluated the regulatory system governing cleanup; the department's priority-setting and technology development efforts; science, engineering, and technology challenges, and the integration of health concerns into program implementation.
Improving Operations and Long-Term Safety of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
This interim report by the National Research Council presents recommendations for DOE to ensure confidence in the long-term performance of the Waste Isolation Plant, and finds that changes should be made to the transuranic waste program to improve efficiency and increase safety.
Incinerating
Cash: The Department of Energy's Failure to Develop & Use Innovative Technologies to
Clean Up the Nuclear Waste Legacy
This report, released October 2000 by the U.S. House of Representatives Commerce
Committee, charges that DOE's Environmental Management Office of Science and Technology
has spent "hundreds of millions of dollars on technologies that have not proved
useful for EM's cleanup mission."
This report finds that DOE site officials lack complete information and guidance from Department headquarters officials to make cost-effective waste-disposal decisions.
Long-Term Institutional Management of U.S. Department of Energy 'Legacy' Web Sites
This new National Research Council report, released on August 7, 2000 (prepublication copy; full release in Fall 2000), finds that the federal government's plan to rely on long-term stewardship to maintain the safety of contaminated nuclear weapons sites is problematic.
This Spring 2000 report by the General Accounting Office
finds that the Department of Energy’s plan to complete the cleanup at Paducah at a
cost of $1.3 billion by 2010 is full of assumptions and omissions, which could lead to an
underestimation of the costs.
Nuclear Waste:
Observations on DOE’s Privatization Initiative for Complex Cleanup Projects
(GAO/T-RCED-00-215)
This GAO report, released June 22, 2000, finds that DOE’s privatization initiative has not been that successful in achieving cost savings in a timely manner, or in improving contractors’ performance. The report concludes that DOE must evaluate privatization as one of many strategies to get the best use of federal cleanup dollars, but that it should not be its only strategy.
Nuclear Weapons Production Complex: Environmental Compliance and Waste Management
This Congressional Research Service Issue Brief, written in 1996, profiles environmental contamination at the nuclear weapons complex, the regulatory framework that governs cleanup, and legislative developments.
This is a Spring 2000 National Research Council report completed by the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Subsurface Contamination at DOE Complex Sites. The report finds that EM’s Science program needs to increase emphasis on and funding for containment and validation R&D as it is likely that DOE will have to "manage much of its subsurface contamination in place."
U.S. Nuclear Weapons Complex: Security At Risk
This study by the Project on Government Oversight, released in October 2001, examines the vulnerability of the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Complex to terrorist attack.