GAO Report: DOE Nuclear Waste Cleanup Cost and Schedule Accuracy Needs Improvement

GAO Reports & Testimonies

Published March 2nd, 2026

Detected March 2nd, 2026

Summary

A GAO report released March 2, 2026, found that the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) needs to improve the accuracy and consistency of its cost and schedule estimates for nuclear waste cleanup projects. The report highlights significant cost increases and data management challenges, impacting over $500 billion in ongoing cleanup efforts.

View original document View source feed page

What changed

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a report (GAO-26-107820) detailing significant issues with the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) oversight of its nuclear waste cleanup program. The report indicates that combined costs for major capital asset projects have increased by over $2 billion, and operations activities by approximately $75 billion since 2022. GAO found that EM struggles with data consistency, documentation accessibility, and reconciling cost and schedule information, which hinders accurate analysis of cost increases and schedule delays. EM officials acknowledged that some cost increases were already known and accounted for, but the report emphasizes the need for improved data management and coordination to ensure accurate reporting to Congress and effective project management.

This report highlights potential inefficiencies and inaccuracies in managing over $500 billion in cleanup activities across the U.S. While not a direct regulatory mandate, it implies a need for enhanced internal controls and reporting accuracy within DOE. Regulated entities or contractors involved in DOE cleanup projects may face increased scrutiny regarding cost and schedule reporting. The GAO has recommended that DOE address these issues to improve its management and reporting capabilities. Compliance officers should be aware of these findings as they may influence future DOE directives or oversight practices related to environmental cleanup contracts and project management.

What to do next

Review GAO report GAO-26-107820 for specific recommendations to DOE.
Assess internal reporting and data management practices for consistency and accuracy, particularly if involved in government contracts.
Monitor DOE's response and implementation of GAO recommendations regarding cost and schedule estimation.

Source document (simplified)

GAO-26-107820 Published: Mar 02, 2026. Publicly Released: Mar 02, 2026.

Fast Facts

The Department of Energy oversees over $500 billion in major projects and activities to clean up radioactive and hazardous waste at sites across the U.S.—a High Risk List item. Since our first biennial assessment of DOE's progress in 2022, DOE's data shows cost increases of more than:

$2 billion for projects like demolishing old buildings

$75 billion for ongoing activities like treating soil

DOE can't fully analyze why cost increases and schedule delays happened, and said some cost estimates were inaccurate or included increases that had already been accounted for.

We recommended DOE address this issue, and more.

A worker monitors cleanup at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, New Mexico.

A person stands in an underground salt cavern next to equipment.

Highlights

What GAO Found

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) manages cleanup of hazardous and radioactive waste through capital asset projects and operations activities. Capital asset projects have defined start and end points, whereas operations activities are typically routine or reoccurring. As of August 2025, EM estimated costs for the most expensive capital asset projects ranging from $69 million to $18.5 billion, and costs for the most expensive operations activities ranging from $1 billion to $177 billion. EM’s data indicated that combined costs for the most expensive capital asset projects increased by more than $2 billion, and combined costs for the most expensive operations activities increased by about $75 billion since GAO last reported in 2022. EM officials said that these cost increases were already known to the agency and accounted for in previous life-cycle cost estimates that were communicated to Congress. As of May 2025, EM estimated that the remaining cleanup work at all its sites would cost more than half a trillion dollars.

EM has seen cost increases and schedule delays due to multiple factors, and the office struggles to maintain complete documentation and reconcile data discrepancies. Specifically, key project documents are not consistently accessible for headquarters review in DOE’s project management database. These documents could provide valuable information on reasons behind increases and recommendations to address underlying issues. Similarly, EM faces challenges providing current cost and schedule information for operations activities that is consistent across headquarters and sites, and EM officials could not easily coordinate to reconcile the inconsistencies. Ensuring availability of complete project information and improving coordination to address the accuracy and consistency of cost and schedule information will help EM manage its projects and activities, report more accurate information to Congress, and provide support to sites.

Even if EM improves the completeness and consistency of information on its projects and activities, its cost and schedule estimates may still reflect significant uncertainty. EM officials from several sites told GAO that final cleanup remedies at their sites still need to be determined, which may increase costs and schedules. GAO has reported that significant cost and schedule savings are still possible on several cleanup projects and activities.

Table: Potential Savings Identified for Selected Office of Environmental Management Capital Asset Projects and Operations Activities

Why GAO Did This Study

EM is responsible for the cleanup of sites and facilities contaminated from decades of nuclear weapons production and nuclear energy research. GAO has identified DOE’s project management and environmental liability—or expected cleanup costs—as High-Risk areas. The department’s management and oversight record has left DOE vulnerable to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement, and its expected future cleanup costs have ballooned over the last several decades.

Senate Report 118-58 includes a provision for GAO to provide a biennial report on the status of EM’s major projects and operations activities. This report (1) describes the status of EM's largest capital asset projects and operations activities, including changes since GAO’s 2022 report; and (2) examines challenges and opportunities to improve the performance of EM's largest capital asset projects and operations activities.

GAO analyzed documents and data and compared information with DOE and EM requirements for managing projects and operations activities. GAO also interviewed EM officials.

Recommendations

GAO is making two recommendations to EM to improve the agency’s oversight of its most expensive capital asset projects and operations activities. These include that EM (1) ensure the completeness of cost and schedule information relevant to its capital asset projects and (2) coordinate with site officials and contractors to improve the accuracy of current and historical cost and schedule data for operations activities. DOE concurred with the recommendations.

Recommendations for Executive Action

| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Office of Environmental Management | The Assistant Secretary for EM should ensure the completeness of information related to cost and schedule performance for EM's capital asset projects in DOE's Project Assessment and Reporting System. (Recommendation 1) | Open When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information. |
| Office of Environmental Management | The Assistant Secretary for EM should improve coordination with officials and contractors at sites to enhance EM's ability to provide accurate, consistent historical and current lifecycle cost and schedule data for its operations activities and reconcile any data discrepancies. (Recommendation 2) | Open When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information. |

Full Report

Highlights Page (1 page)

Full Report (98 pages)

GAO Contacts

Nathan Anderson Director Natural Resources and Environment andersonn@gao.gov

Media Inquiries

Sarah Kaczmarek Managing Director Office of Public Affairs media@gao.gov

Public Inquiries

Topics

Energy Cost and schedule Capital assets Nuclear waste cleanup Cost estimates Radioactive wastes Environmental management Compliance oversight Construction Contractor performance Schedule slippages