States and Indian Tribes
Also Participate in Cleanup
Process

DOE's Responsibilities Do
Not End When Cleanup Is
Finished

The Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act requires that the affected states participate fully in the cleanup of the Title I sites and that affected Indian tribes be consulted, as appropriate, in the performance of the remedial action on their lands. The involvement of each affected state and tribe is defined through a cooperative agreement with DOE. This agreement establishes the funding, actions involving real estate, and requirements for the technical reviews necessary to perform the remedial action.

Each affected state is responsible for providing 10 percent of the cost of the remedial action for each of its sites and, if necessary, for acquiring title to the processing or disposal site. When the remedial action is complete, the state is required to transfer ownership of the disposal site (if it owns the site) to the federal government. Indian tribes are not responsible for paying any of the costs but participate in selecting disposal sites and proposing remedial actions.

DOE's responsibilities do not end with the disposal of the tailings; the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act requires DOE to monitor and maintain the sites to ensure their integrity over the long term. After each Title I site has been cleaned up and NRC has licensed it, the site is transferred to DOE's Long-Term Surveillance and Maintenance Program.

"Or another federal agency designated by the President

Chapter 1
Introduction

Objectives, Scope,

and Methodology

DOE will be responsible for long-term surveillance and maintenance not only at the Title I sites but also at most, if not all, of the Title II sites.

The objectives of our review were to provide the Congress with information on (1) the status and cost of DOE's surface and groundwater cleanups and (2) factors that could affect the federal government's costs and liabilities in the future.

To determine the status and cost of the surface cleanup program, we
interviewed officials and reviewed documents on budget and status from
several DOE offices: the Office of Southwestern Area Programs (in
Germantown, Maryland), the Office of Environment/Project Management
(in Albuquerque, New Mexico), the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action
Project Office (in Albuquerque, New Mexico), and the Grand Junction
Projects Office (in Grand Junction, Colorado). We also interviewed several
DOE project managers responsible for the sites. In addition, we interviewed
numerous DOE contract specialists and reviewed the documents they
maintained.

In addition to DOE officials, we also interviewed officials of and reviewed documents from NRC's High-Level Waste and Uranium Recovery Projects Branch and Office of State Programs (in Rockville, Maryland). We also interviewed an official and reviewed documents from EPA's Office of Radiation and Indoor Air. To obtain a state and local perspective, we also interviewed officials from Colorado, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania. We visited sites located in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania; Rifle, Colorado; and Grand Junction, Colorado. We also visited several vicinity properties located near the site in Grand Junction.

To determine the status and cost of the groundwater cleanup activities at the Title I sites, we interviewed officials and reviewed planning and budgetary documents for groundwater cleanup at DOE'S Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project Office. In addition, we interviewed NRC officials from the High Level Waste and Uranium Recovery Projects Branch who have regulatory authority for the groundwater program. We also interviewed officials from EPA's Office of Radiation and Indoor Air.

To identify factors that could affect the federal government's costs and
liabilities in the future, we interviewed officials and reviewed documents
at DOE's Office of Southwestern Area Programs, Office of
Environment/Project Management, Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action

Chapter 1
Introduction

Project Office, and Grand Junction Projects Office. (The Grand Junction Projects Office will be responsible for DOE's long-term surveillance and maintenance program as well as for DOE'S groundwater program.) We also requested and received letters from DOE'S Deputy General Counsel and NRC's General Counsel. In addition, we interviewed officials of NRC's High Level Waste and Uranium Recovery Projects Branch who are responsible for regulating both the Title I and II sites. We also interviewed Colorado state officials about long-term concerns they have about the tailings in Grand Junction, Colorado. Finally, we interviewed representatives of the National Mining Association (formerly the American Mining Congress), a major trade association that represents many owners/operators of the Title II sites.

We conducted our review between January 1995 and November 1995 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. We provided copies of a draft of this report to DOE, NRC, and EPA and discussed the information in the draft report with officials from each agency. Officials from all three agencies generally agreed with the report's findings and provided technical clarifications that we have incorporated as appropriate. Additional details on the agencies' comments are contained in chapter 3.

Chapter 2

UMTRA Project Has Grown in Size and Cost

Since its inception in 1979, the UMTRA project has grown in both size and
cost. The surface cleanup at the Title I sites is almost complete, but it took
DOE nearly 8 years longer than expected and cost 37 percent more than the
agency anticipated. The schedule changes and cost increases resulted
from several factors, including unexpected quantities and locations of
tailings, changes in federal regulatory requirements, and state and local
concerns. As for the cleanup of the groundwater at the Title I sites, efforts
have only recently begun. DOE initiated groundwater cleanup at the Title I
sites in 1991 and currently estimates completion in about 2014, at a cost of
at least $147 million.'

Surface Cleanup Is
Nearly Complete but
Has Taken Longer and
Cost More Than
Anticipated

DOE is currently seeking reauthorization of the surface cleanup program
through fiscal year 1998, or 8 years past the act's original deadline. When it
was enacted in 1978, the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act
directed DOE to complete the cleanup of the Title I sites by March 1990 (7
years after EPA's standards became effective). The deadline for the surface
cleanup was later extended through fiscal year 1994, and then still later,
through 1996. According to DOE, these extensions were necessary because
of growth in the program's size and complexity. The Department currently
expects that its surface cleanup will be completed by the beginning of
1997. DOE is working with NRC to expedite the licensing process so that all
of the work is completed by the end of 1998.

As of October 1995, the surface cleanup was complete at 15 of the 24 Title I sites, was under way at 7 additional sites, and was being planned at another 2 sites. Of the 15 sites where DOE has completed cleanup, 3 have been licensed by NRC as meeting EPA's standards. Ten of the other 12 sites are working on obtaining an NRC license (e.g., preparing paperwork for submission to NRC or undergoing NRC's review or inspection). Additionally, DOE has completed the surface cleanup at about 97 percent of the 5,276 nearby properties-which DOE terms vicinity properties—included in the program as of October 1995.

These amounts, as well as all others in this chapter, have been converted to present-value 1995 dollars

*Although DOE, through its 1992 planning process, requested that the program be authorized through fiscal year 1998, the Energy Policy Act of 1992 provided authorization only through 1996.

'According to DOE officials, unlike the other sites, the sites at Monument Valley, Arizona, and
Riverton, Wyoming, will not be licensed because the tailings were relocated to either a Title I or a Title
Il site.

Chapter 2

UMTRA Project Has Grown in Size and Cost

In January 1995, DOE estimated that the total cost of the surface cleanup at the Title I sites will be about $2.3 billion, or $621 million (37 percent) more than it estimated in 1982. Through fiscal year 1994, expenditures for the surface cleanup already totaled about $2 billion, and DOE expects to spend another $300 million in completing this cleanup. Of the total projected cost of $2.3 billion, DOE expects to spend about 22 percent cleaning up the vicinity properties and the rest on cleaning up the 24 Title I sites. Through fiscal year 1995, the states will have contributed $99.9 million, and they are expected to spend another $29.6 million through the completion of the program as their share of the cleanup costs.

Table 2.1 summarizes the status and cost of the surface cleanup at the
Title I sites and vicinity properties.

"In DOE's accounting system, this amount is reported as $1.47 billion in what DOE terms "escalated" dollars

"While DOE's budget system accounts for the two largest cost components of the cleanup at vicinity properties, it cannot fully itemize all these costs. As a result, according to DOE, the 22 percent of the total project cost that DOE expects to spend for cleaning up these properties is understated to a small extent.