What GAO Found The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Naval Reactors (Naval Reactors) is responsible for cleaning up contamination at four DOE-owned sites impacted by its operations: one each in Idaho and Pennsylvania, and two in New York. Cleanup involves decontamination and decommissioning of excess facilities—including naval nuclear propulsion prototypes—and remediation of contaminated soil. Estimated costs for these cleanup activities are reported as federal environmental liabilities. Demolition of the Submarine First Generation Westinghouse (S1W) Nuclear Propulsion Prototype Facility at the DOE Office of Naval Reactors Site in Idaho In 2019, Naval Reactors partnered with DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) to conduct large-scale decontamination and decommissioning on its behalf. Naval Reactors estimated its environmental liabilities for the inventory of work planned for completion under the partnership would be $5.8 billion in 2025 dollars. EM estimates it can complete the work for approximately $1 billion—a potential $4.8 billion in cost savings if all planned work is completed. Naval Reactors officials attribute the majority of these potential cost savings to EM’s nationwide network of experienced contractors. Naval Reactors and EM initially established a target date of 2050 to complete all work under the partnership but recently accelerated the target date to…
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Environmental Liabilities: Naval Reactors’ Disposition Partnership on Track to Save Billions
Source: US GAO Reports — US Government, Public Domain