Dingell, Barton ask GAO to investigate cost overruns at DOE's Hanford Site

摘要

Top House lawmakers from both parties asked a government watchdog office last week to determine whether the costs of delays in nuclear waste cleanup at the Energy Department's Hanford Site are being paid by taxpayers or by DOE contractors. Representatives John Dingell of Michigan and Joe Barton of Texas, the Democratic chairman and the top Republican, respectively, of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, made the request in a letter to the Government Accountability Office. "The Committee is assessing whether DOE's contractors should be held financially accountable for the costs of any schedule delays and cost overruns due to their failure to adhere to nuclear safety and other requirements," Dingell and Barton wrote. Three other members of the committee also signed the letter. The lawmakers asked GAO to investigate cost overruns at Hanford dating back to the year 2000. They specifically asked for an investigation of three major incidents in which a "stand-down" of cleanup operations occurred. "When these stand-downs occur, it is our understanding that DOE usually picks up the tab for any cost overruns," Dingell and Barton wrote. "Poor contractor performance and failure to adhere to nuclear safety and other requirements, however, contributed to these stand-downs/slowdowns," they said. "Cost and schedule increases might have been avoided had there been more effective regulation by DOE." Their inquiry relates specifically to the Office of River Protection at Hanford. This branch of the site is tasked with cleaning up the tank farms and for building the Waste Treatment Plant, which will prepare the nuclear waste for permanent storage.