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Westinghouse Savannah River Company (Westinghouse) manages and operates the Savannah River Site, located in Aiken, South Carolina, for the U.S. Department of Energy (Department). Westinghouse was self-insured for health benefits and contracted with Aetna Insurance to administer the plan (service payments to providers) from Calendar Year (CY) 1989 through 1996. Westinghouse’s administrative service contract with Aetna Insurance expired on December 31, 1996. Westinghouse chose Blue Cross/Blue Shield of South Carolina (BC/BS) to administer its health plan, effective January 1, 1997.

Westinghouse Savannah River Company's Health Benefit Plan

The Small Business Act (Act) requires that small business concerns owned and controlled by socially or economically disadvantaged individuals have the maximum practicable opportunity to participate in contracts awarded by any Federal agency. Section 8(a) of the Act establishes a program that authorizes the Small Business Administration (SBA) to enter into contracts with other agencies and award subcontracts for performing those contracts to firms enrolled in the 8(a) Program directly to the agencies. Contracts are to be awarded competitively if the anticipated award price of the contract will exceed $3 million and at least two responsible 8(a) firms could submit offers.

Small Disadvantaged Business Program at the Chicago Operations Office

To provide oversight of how well Department of Energy (DOE) contractors were adhering to the nuclear safety rules established by the Department to implement the Price-Anderson Amendments Act of 1988 (PAAA), DOE established an enforcement program, managed by the Office of Environment, Safety and Health (EH). The purpose of the program is to identify and penalize DOE contractors for unsafe actions or conditions that violate nuclear safety requirements for protecting workers and the public. The single most important goal of the Department’s PAAA enforcement program is to encourage early identification and reporting of nuclear safety deficiencies and violations of DOE nuclear safety requirements by the DOE contractors themselves, rather than by DOE. Enforcement actions may include the issuance of Notices of Violations and, where appropriate, civil monetary penalties of up to $110,000 per violation per day. The objective of our inspection was to determine whether potential noncompliances with nuclear safety rules at the Department’s Oak Ridge site were being identified and self-reported.

Inspection of Reporting at Oak Ridge of Potential Noncompliances With DOE Price-Anderson Amendments Act Implementing Rules

Aircraft and Air Service Management Programs

The Department of Energy's (Department) Albuquerque Operations Office (Albuquerque) owns seven aircraft that support defense programs, research and development efforts, emergency response programs, and official travel of Government and contractor employees. An Office of Inspector General (OIG) report, issued in 1994, identified concerns with Albuquerque's cost for air service. Since that report, there have been reductions in cost and personnel indicating changes in air service requirements. We conducted this audit to determine (1) whether costs to operate Albuquerque's aircraft were excessive and (2) if individual aircraft in the fleet were justified. On January 7, 1999, the OIG issued a separate report on its Review of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Aircraft Activities, (DOE/IG-0435). This report assessed aircraft operations nationwide, and suggested that enhanced centralized management was needed to ensure that new and existing aircraft were justified based on mission needs, and that program costs were minimized.

The INEEL CAB provides technical comments on the Draft Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Part B Permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

The CAB provides recommendations pertaining to the Revised Draft Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Part B Permit for Waste Isolation Pilot Plant