May 19, 1999
The Department of Energy has about 7,000 surplus buildings that will eventually require deactivation and
decommissioning (D&D). The estimated cost of D&D for the Department's surplus facilities is over $11
billion with an additional $20 billion to stabilize, deactivate and decommission facilities which are currently
active. The Office of Environmental Management is responsible for assuring that adequate technologies
are available to address these D&D needs. Through the development and widespread deployment of new
technologies, the Department has established a goal of reducing D&D costs by approximately $1 billion by
2006.
Environmental Management uses Large-Scale Demonstration and Deployment Projects to identify and
promote deployment of improved technologies throughout the Department. These projects are intended to
provide an opportunity to compare the cost and performance of new or improved technologies against
established technologies. To date, the projects have demonstrated many technologies which offer cost and
performance improvements over established technologies. Environmental Management uses a concept of
Integrating Contractor Teams to manage each project. The objective of our audit was to determine if
opportunities exist to increase D&D technology deployments within the Department and to reduce the cost
of managing technology demonstration projects.nd
A
Office of Inspector General
