Areport released to the public on February 20 by the Government Accountability Office concluded that maintenance inspections at several contaminated excess facilities at the Department of Energy's Hanford Site, near Richland, Wash., have not been comprehensive and that there are areas of some facilities that personnel infrequently or never enter, either physically or by remote means, to conduct inspections. The GAO reviewed surveillance and maintenance (S&M) requirements and activities at 18 of Hanford's approximately 800 excess facilities that require cleanup and found that improvements to the site's S&M program are needed. "Despite efforts to mitigate risks and clean up excess facilities, significant vulnerabilities remain at Hanford due to, among other things, the degrading state of hundreds of contaminated excess facilities still requiring cleanup," the GAO said in the report. "Given the pivotal role of the S&M program in ensuring that aging and degrading contaminated excess facilities do not collapse or fail to contain radioac- tive or hazardous material, it is important that this program is functioning effectively and that any weaknesses are addressed in a timely manner."
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