Making Progress in Cleaning Up DOE's Weapons Complex: Issues of Organization andManagement

摘要

The report presents the results of an intensive study aimed at identifying thespecial management problems perceived to confront the Department of Energy (DOE) in carrying out its program of environmental restoration and waste management (EM). The problem of cleanup of the nuclear weapons complex sites has become a key issue for the DOE and the nation. The management of programs of the magnitudes anticipated is a challenge in any context, but it is particularly difficult for DOE at present, in the early stages of development of the EM program. Production of weapons is no longer as dominating an activity of the Department. Environmental cleanup has become of comparable importance. Further, a new level of public interest and scrutiny has emerged which profoundly influences the management and operations of the Department. Finally, in response to the changes being imposed upon the Department, there have been changes in internal operations, such as centralization of authority at headquarters, that have changed relations between DOE and the contractors conducting much of its work.