Audit Report: IG-0556

The Department of Energy (Department), by its own estimate, spends about $217 million
annually to operate over 50 separate nuclear material tracking systems and to perform other
procedures necessary to maintain accountability over its nuclear material inventory. Because
these systems are not fully integrated, obtaining comprehensive data about nuclear materials is
inefficient. In addition to the many site-level systems, the Department also maintains the
Nuclear Materials Management Safeguards System (NMMSS). Used since 1965, NMMSS
comprises a major component of the Government's nuclear materials accounting system. It
contains high-level, aggregate data on quantity, as well as individual transaction data on
shipments of nuclear materials, both internal and external to the United States. The
Department and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission share the $4 million annual operating
costs for NMMSS. In recognition of the inefficiencies of maintaining numerous tracking
systems, the Department initiated a study in 1999 to examine opportunities to modernize its
nuclear materials management systems.@Nõ