DOE Has Spent $823 Million at the Paducah Site; However, Billions of Dollars Will Be Required to Complete DOE Activities at the Site

From fiscal year 1988 through fiscal year 2003, DOE has spent $823 million  (in 2002 dollars) for cleanup and related activities at Paducah. As figure 2  shows, 45 percent was spent on base operations, 36 percent on actions  taken to clean up contamination and remove waste, and 19 percent on  assessments. However, the $1.6 billion cleanup estimate does not represent DOE’s total  responsibilities at the site. In addition to cleaning up the contamination  from past activities at the site, DOE will (1) build and operate a facility to  convert more than 38,000 cylinders of depleted uranium hexafluoride  stored at the site to a more stable form; (2) carry out final  decontamination and decommissioning of the uranium enrichment plant  and associated infrastructure once USEC ceases plant operations; and (3)  perform long-term environmental monitoring at the site, which includes  activities such as monitoring groundwater and surface water for residual  contamination. According to DOE estimates, completing these activities  will cost almost $5 billion in 2002 dollars. This will bring the total cost of  DOE activities at the site, including remaining cleanup costs and the $823  million already spent, to over $7 billion, in 2002 dollars. While DOE Has Achieved Some Progress, Much Remains to Be Done

Since 2000, DOE has made some progress in cleaning up the contamination  and waste at Paducah, but much of the cleanup work remains to be done. Groundwater

After hazardous and radioactive contamination was found in the drinking  water wells of residences near the Paducah plant in 1988, DOE discovered  that plumes of groundwater contaminated with TCE and technetium-99  were moving toward the Ohio River. During the pilot test, about 1,500  gallons of TCE were removed from the largest source—about 99 percent of  the TCE in the area treated. About 1.3 billion gallons have been treated this way since  the program began. An estimated  almost 50,000 tons of contaminated scrap metal remains to be removed  from the site. While Two Previously Identified Challenges Have Been Mitigated, Uncertainty about the Cleanup Scope and Reaching Stakeholder Agreement on Cleanup Approach Remain the Current Principal Challenges

Two of the four challenges we identified in 2000—DOE’s plans to use  untested technology and obtaining adequate funding for the cleanup—no  longer pose the impediment to the cleanup effort they once did because of  actions taken to mitigate their impact. The remaining two challenges— uncertainty over the scope of the cleanup and obtaining stakeholder  agreement on the cleanup approach—are the principal challenges that  remain for DOE to resolve to successfully complete the cleanup at  Paducah. In fact, in fiscal year 2003, Congress  appropriated more than DOE’s $100 million request. Until DOE decides when phase II  will begin, any additional necessary actions, the costs of those actions, and  the time frame for DOE to implement them are not known. As a result, their working relationship has  deteriorated, slowing cleanup progress. The poor working relationship between DOE and the regulators has also  prevented them from quickly reaching agreement on technical details of  specific projects. For example, DOE, EPA, and  Kentucky have been unable to agree on an overall cleanup approach and  technical aspects of individual projects. Unless DOE and the regulators can reach and maintain agreement on key  aspects of the cleanup and quickly resolve technical disagreements,  progress at Paducah could continue to be hampered by delays. Recommendations for Executive Action

To help improve the likelihood that DOE and the regulators will reach  timely agreement on the cleanup approach, we recommend that the  Secretary of Energy direct the Assistant Secretary of the Office of  Environmental Management to   involve the Commonwealth of Kentucky and EPA early in the  development of the annual site management plan and specific  projects—before submitting formal cleanup proposals for regulatory  approval—so that the parties can identify and resolve their concerns  and reach consensus on cleanup decisions in a more timely manner, and   in conjunction with Kentucky and EPA, identify and retain external  technical peer review groups with environmental cleanup expertise to  facilitate timely resolution of any future differences between DOE and  the regulators. Scope and Methodology

To determine the amount of money DOE has spent on cleanup-related  activities, the purposes for which the money has been spent, and the  estimated total for the site, we interviewed officials from DOE’s Oak Ridge  Operations Office, which is responsible for managing costs for the Paducah  site, and reviewed budget documents including appropriation data related  to the cleanup. Furthermore, EPA and Kentucky viewed this effort as a collaborative  process. 4.
Why GAO Did This Study

In 1988, radioactive contamination was found in the drinking water wells of residences near the federal government's uranium enrichment plant in Paducah, Kentucky. In response, the Department of Energy (DOE) began a cleanup program. In 2000, GAO reported that DOE faced significant challenges in cleaning up the site and that it was doubtful that the cleanup would be completed as scheduled by 2010 and within the $1.3 billion cost projection. GAO was asked to determine (1) the amount of money DOE has spent on the site, the purposes for which it was spent, and the estimated total costs for the site; (2) the status of DOE cleanup efforts; and (3) the challenges GAO previously identified that continue to be issues for DOE.

What GAO Found

From fiscal year 1988 through 2003, DOE spent $823 million (in 2002 dollars) at the Paducah site. Of this total, DOE spent about $372 million (45 percent) for a host of operations activities, including general maintenance and security; $298 million (36 percent) for actions to clean up contamination and waste; and $153 million (19 percent) for studies to assess the extent of contamination and determine what cleanup actions were needed. DOE currently projects that the cleanup will take until 2019 and cost almost $1.6 billion to complete--9 years and about $300 million more than DOE's earlier projection. The $1.6 billion, however, does not include the cost of other DOE activities required at the site after the plant ceases operations, including final decontamination and decommissioning of the plant and longterm environmental monitoring. DOE estimates these activities will cost almost $5 billion and bring DOE's total costs at the site, including the $823 million already spent, to over $7 billion through 2070 (in 2002 dollars). DOE has made some progress in cleaning up contamination and waste at Paducah, but much of the work remains to be done. For example, while DOE has removed about 4,500 tons of scrap metal, almost 50,000 tons of contaminated scrap metal remain. Similarly, while DOE's pilot test of a new technology for removing the hazardous chemical trichloroethene (TCE) from groundwater at the site had promising results--removing about 99 percent of the TCE in the test zone--the technology will not be fully implemented for more than a year. Two of the four challenges GAO identified in 2000--DOE's plans to use untested technology and questionable assumptions that funding for the cleanup would increase--no longer pose the impediment to the cleanup they once did. Two others--uncertainty over the scope of the cleanup and difficulty obtaining timely stakeholder agreement on the cleanup approach--are the principal challenges that remain. First, the actual scope of the cleanup is not yet known. As a result, any additional cleanup actions, the costs of those actions, and the time frame for DOE to implement them are also unknown. Second, DOE and the regulators--the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Kentucky--have had difficulty agreeing on an overall cleanup approach, as well as on the details of specific projects. Over time, these disagreements have undermined trust and damaged the parties' working relationship. After involving EPA and Kentucky early in the cleanup planning process, as it has done successfully at other sites, DOE officials discontinued this approach early in 2001, due in part to concerns about the growing cleanup scope, associated costs, and that the planned actions were excessive in relation to the risk. The result was an almost 2-year dispute that delayed progress. This poor working relationship has also prevented the parties from quickly reaching agreement on the technical details of specific projects. Unless DOE and the regulators can reach and maintain agreement on key aspects of the cleanup and quickly resolve technical differences, progress at Paducah could continue to be plagued by delays.