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On July 25, 1997, a contract hand brush cutter was seriously injured when he felled a tree close to a BPA energized transmission power line

integrity of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) unsolicited proposal review process may have been compromised by the actions of a former Deputy Secretary of Energy and his Executive Assistant during the review of an unsolicited proposal received from Chevron U.S.A. Production Company (Chevron) in May 1993. The Chevron unsolicited proposal was for the management and operation of DOE’s Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve (Elk Hills), located near Bakersfield, California. Chevron submitted the unsolicited proposal on May 19, 1993. DOE formally rejected Chevron’s unsolicited proposal in May 1995. Although Chevron’s unsolicited proposal was eventually rejected by DOE, the complainant specifically alleged that the “sanctity, integrity, and sensitivity” of the unsolicited proposal review process had been breached in meetings during the Fall of 1993 between Chevron officials, the Deputy Secretary of Energy (Deputy Secretary), and his Executive Assistant. Based on our review of the allegation, we identified the following issue as the focus of our inspection: Was the DOE review of the Chevron unsolicited proposal handled in accordance with the requirements of DOE Order 4210.9A, “UNSOLICITED PROPOSALS?”

Report On Inspection Of Concerns Regarding DOE's Evaluation Of Chevron U.S.A's Unsolicited Proposal For The Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve

Now, after further review of the plutonium and uranium materials stored in vaults, and considering DOE’s recent adoption of a phased canyon strategy for current and potential nuclear material management missions, DOE has decided to: (1) add an additional method, Processing and Storage for Vitrification in the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF), to those being implemented for the management of plutonium and uranium stored in vaults; and (2) amend its September 6, 1996, ROD to stabilize the plutonium-239 and neptunium-237 solutions stored in H-Canyon and obsolete neptunium-237 targets stored in K-Reactor to oxide forms using the H- Canyon facilities. These management methods were fully analyzed in the Final EIS.

DOE decided to: (1) add Processing and Storage for Vitrification in the DWPF and (2) stabilize Pu-239 and Np-237 solutions & obsolete Np-237 targets.

Audit of Management of the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

This memorandum transmits a Department of Energy (DOE) Environmental Impact Statement Checklist to assist EIS preparers and reviewers in meeting the requirements ofthe National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

This DOE Environmental Impact Statement Checklist is provided to assist EIS preparers and reviewers in meeting the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

In 1991, Lockheed Martin Energy Systems (Energy Systems) determined that new bioassay and environmental sampling laboratories were needed to meet increasing workload and staffing requirements. Energy Systems proposed and the Department of Energy (Department) approved a solicitation for a private company to construct a facility which Energy Systems would lease back on behalf of the Department. Energy Systems entered into a lease for this purpose in August 1994 and moved into the facility in October 1995. We initiated this audit to determine if the Department’s acquisition of the Union Valley Sample Preparation Facility (UVSPF) was necessary and cost effective.

Audit of the Union Valley Sample Preparation Facility at Oak Ridge