Calendar Year 2020

One of the Department of Energy's operating goals is to enusre the safetly of its over 100,000 workers. To that end, the Department has developed a number of measures to identify trends and patters in occupational injuries and illnesses and to gauge overall safety performance. Each quarter, the Office of Environment, Safety and Health reports Departmental trend information (including the National Nuclear Security Administration) using a number of widely recognized occupational safety performance indicators such as total recordable case rate and the lost workday case rate. These mesausres track work-related injuries and illnesses that require days away from work, restricted work activity, or medical treatement beyond first aid. The general guidelines relative to recordable cases are established by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Decards of nuclear weapons and commercial power production have left a large legacy of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste. In 2002, Congress approved construction of the first geological waste repository in Yucca Mountain, Nevada, to dispose of this waste. Prior to construction, the Nuclear Regularoty Commission (NRC) must grant the Department of Energy (Department) a license to construct the facility. Before beginning the license application process in December 2004, the Department is required to publicly disclose all relevent documents by posting them on the Department's public website which is accessible through the NRC-sponsored, internet-based Licensing Support Network (Network). To satisfy current schedule requirements, the Department must certify that relevant documents have been posted to the Network and made available for public review by June 2004. The Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Managment (OCRWM) is responsible for all aspects of the license application process.

In response to Congressional direction, the Department funded WERC (A Consortium for Environmental Education and Technology Development). WERC is headquartered at New Mexico State University and sponsors activities at this university and others. The project supports various environmental efforts including education, outreach, research, and student-level design contests. Funding began in 1990 and, through August 2003, and Department of Energy has provided over $56 million to the project. Under the new cooperative agreement, initiated in 2001, the Department is required to fund the project at $2.5 million per year through 2007. Funding is provided by Environmental Management and the project is administered by the Environmental Restoration Deivision at the Nationial Nuclear Security Administration Service Center located in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

I am pleased to submit the Office of Inspector General's (OIG) Semiannual Report to Congress.
This Report summarizes significant OIG activities and accomplishments during the 6-month
period ending March 31, 2004.
The Report reflects our continuing commitment to focus OIG efforts on the issues and concerns
most critical to you, the Administration, and the Congress. In particular, it describes OIG
accomplishments in identifying the most significant management challenges facing the
Department.

The Department of Energy relies extensively on information technology to manage its programs and functions. Systems and applications support virtually every aspect of the Department's diverse mission, covering activities ranging from business and financial processes to assuring the reliability of the Nation's nuclear stockpile. To place the magnitude of this effort in context, in Fiscal Year 2002, the Department expended $2.3 billion on information technology, or about 11 percent of its overall budget. Of this amount, $1.1 billion was specifically dedicated to resource development, modernization and enhancement.