Summary

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Energy's (DOE) 5-year program for demonstrating its Waste Isolation Pilot Plant's (WIPP) capacity for safe disposal of transuranic (TRU) wastes produced by DOE atomic energy defense activities.

GAO found that: (1) DOE established the 5-year test program to help determine WIPP compliance with 1985 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards by conducting experiments involving brine seepage, gas generation, and other technical issues; (2) pursuant to a court order, EPA planned to issue revised standards in 1991; (3) DOE also planned to demonstrate safe waste handling, transport, and storage operations by storing 18,300 drums over 3 years, beginning in 1990; (4) DOE would have to remove or rehandle wastes it stored under the demonstration program if it determined that WIPP did not meet compliance standards; (5) the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) recommended that DOE address such issues as waste disposal contingencies, merits of early storage, noncompliance risks, and technical justification for experiments, before starting the demonstration program; (6) early waste storage at WIPP would enable DOE to begin removing wastes from its aging defense facilities, most of which had limited storage space; (7) two states opposed additional storage at their defense facilities and sought prompt removal of existing wastes; (8) although DOE had not issued its test plan in final form, NAS agreed that the proposed experiments on gas generation should begin without delay; and (9) DOE was seeking legislation to permanently withdraw the WIPP site from public use and authorize waste storage.