Audit of the deactivation, decontamination, and disposal of surplus facilities at the Savannah River Site

Technical Report · Thu Oct 23 04:00:00 EDT 1997

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/561204· OSTI ID:561204

Westinghouse Savannah River Company (Westinghouse) is responsible for managing the Department of Energy`s (Department) surplus facilities at the Savannah River Site (Site). In Fiscal Year (FY) 1996, the Site had 162 surplus facilities and anticipated that 118 more would become surplus within the next 5 years. The objective of this audit was to determine whether the Savannah River Operations Office (Operations Office) and Westinghouse had economically and promptly deactivated, decontaminated, and disposed of surplus facilities at the Site. Departmental regulations require that surplus facilities be deactivated, decontaminated, and disposed of economically and promptly. However, Westinghouse only disposed of one facility and did not completely deactivate or decontaminate any of the 162 facilities identified as surplus at the Site in FY 1996. This occurred because the Operations Office did not compile a Site-wide list, establish priorities, or provide sufficient funding for the deactivation, decontamination, and disposal of surplus facilities. As a result, the Department incurred unnecessary costs for the surveillance and maintenance of surplus facilities. For example, the Department could have avoided annual costs of about $1.3 million in surveillance and maintenance costs by spending $1.2 million to perform a deactivation project on the P-Reactor process-water storage tanks. The Operations Office could have funded the project out of its unobligated FY 1996 operating funds. However, it returned the unobligated funds to the Department`s Headquarters at the end of the fiscal year. The Operations Office concurred with the finding and recommendations and initiated corrective action.

• Research Organization: USDOE Office of Inspector General, Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Eastern Regional Audit Office
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Inspector General, Washington, DC (United States)
• OSTI ID: 561204
• Report Number(s): ER-B--98-01; ON: TI98001649; NC: NONE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
COMPLIANCE AUDITS
PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
SAVANNAH RIVER PLANT
SURPLUS NUCLEAR FACILITIES
US DOE FIELD OFFICES