Nuclear Waste: Addressing Legal and Regulatory Barriers Could Accelerate Cleanup and Reduce Costs

What GAO Found The Department of Energy’s (DOE) nuclear waste cleanup is proceeding largely under three laws that set cleanup and waste management requirements. Each law has different requirements, applications, and regulators. Selected Cleanup and Waste Management Laws and Regulators for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Nuclear Waste Cleanup GAO and experts GAO convened with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine identified several legal and regulatory factors that affect the cost and schedule of DOE’s nuclear waste cleanup. Certain state regulatory actions may exceed state authority. According to experts who participated in GAO’s National Academies meetings, some states are taking legal and regulatory actions that address the radiological aspects of nuclear waste at DOE’s cleanup sites, which are generally regulated by DOE under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended. Such actions may exceed a state’s authority to regulate hazardous waste under authorizations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) pursuant to the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, as amended (RCRA). These state actions have led to disagreements between DOE and states on requirements for the radiological portion of DOE’s waste, longer cleanup schedules, and billions in higher costs for the federal government, according to experts. Courts have recognized that DOE’s authority to manage and regulate its nuclear waste under the Atomic Energy Act preempt