Audit Report: IG-0560

On March 19, 2002, you asked the Office of Inspector General to conduct an expedited review of
efforts to construct the Tritium Extraction Facility (TEF) at the Department of Energy's Savannah
River Site. Specifically, you expressed concerns about information you had received indicating
that the TEF may be over budget and behind schedule.
The Department is in the process of constructing the TEF at Savannah River as part of a process to
ensure that the United States has an adequate supply of tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen
used in all of the Nation's nuclear weapons. When fully operational, the TEF will provide the
capability to extract gases containing tritium as part of the Commercial Light Water Reactor
Program. The current baseline for the project, established in 1999, provided that the TEF was to
be completed by February 2006 at a cost of $401 million, and that it was to produce 3 kilograms of
tritium per year. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is responsible for the
overall management of the TEF Project and an integrated team of Westinghouse Savannah River
Company and Bechtel Savannah River, Inc. personnel carries out day-to-day construction
management activities.
Consistent with your request, the objective of our audit was to determine whether the TEF Project
was within cost, schedule, and technical scope.