Calendar Year 2020

To support nonproliferation objectives, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) manages a program for converting surplus highly enriched uranium (HEU) to low enriched uranium (LEU) suitable for use in commercial nuclear reactors. Under this program, NNSA entered into agreements with a private contractor to produce LEU by blending HEU with natural uranium. Since 1994, NNSA has declared 209 metric tons of HEU as surplus to national security needs and has disposed of 132 metric tons.

The Department of Energy’s (Department) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak
Ridge, Tennessee, provides unique expertise in support of the Department’s science and national
security portfolios. UT-Battelle, LLC, manages ORNL for the Department through the Oak
Ridge Office. ORNL’s mission frequently involves producing and receiving sensitive electronic
information, data which requires special handling to protect against unauthorized disclosure. Of
its approximately 16,400 computers, over 6,200 produce, store or transfer sensitive unclassified
information, such as Official Use Only and Personally Identifiable Information (PII) (e.g. name,
social security number and medical history). Department guidance requires that storage media
no longer in use, but previously used to process sensitive unclassified information, be either
protected by approved encryption or tracked and controlled until purged or destroyed. After
receiving an allegation that computer hard drives were being removed by unauthorized
individuals, a practice that could potentially result in the unauthorized release of sensitive
unclassified information, the Office of Inspector General initiated an inspection to review the
facts and circumstances of the allegation.

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) received an allegation by an individual who claimed that he was
retaliated against by his management as a result of his cooperation with the OIG. The specific matter
related to concerns regarding Nuclear Quality Assurance at one of the National Nuclear Security
Administration's laboratories. We initiated an inspection to look into this matter.

In February 2009, the President signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of
2009 (Recovery Act) into law. The Department of Energy's (Department) Office of
Environmental Management (EM) allocated $140 million of Recovery Act funds to
decommission and demolish (D&D) Office of Science facilities at Argonne National
Laboratory (Argonne) and to accelerate ongoing D&D activities at Brookhaven National
Laboratory (Brookhaven). D&D activities funded at Argonne included the demolition of
Buildings 330 and 310, the removal of wastes and nuclear material from another
building, and the removal of the majority of the remote-handled and contact handled
transuranic waste from the Argonne site. Brookhaven's D&D activities included
decontamination of the High Flux Beam Reactor (HFBR) and demolition of its related
buildings and waste lines, and the removal and disposal of the graphite and biological
shield from the Brookhaven Graphite Research Reactor (BGRR).

The purpose of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) was to
stimulate the U.S. economy, create or save jobs and invest in the Nation's energy future. The
Recovery Act provided $3.2 billion for the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant
Program (Program). Administered by the Department of Energy, the Program provides funding
for projects that improve energy efficiency and reduce energy use and fossil fuel emissions.
Activities eligible for funding include, for example, energy efficiency building retrofits and
large-scale heating and cooling systems.