GAO-05-1044R Rocky Flats Closure Project

United States Government Accountability Office

Washington, DC 20548 

September 22, 2005 

The Honorable Jeff Sessions 

Chairman, Subcommittee on Strategic Forces 

Committee on Armed Services 

United States Senate 

 

The Honorable Wayne Allard 

United States Senate 

Subject: Nuclear Cleanup: Preliminary Results of the Review of the Department of 

Energy’s Rocky Flats Closure Project

For about 40 years, the Department of Energy’s Rocky Flats site, near Denver, served 

as a production facility that made plutonium triggers, or “pits,” for nuclear weapons. 

That role resulted in radiological and chemical contamination of many of the site’s 

buildings and its soil and water. Cleanup of the site, which commenced in 1996, has 

been a monumental undertaking. The cleanup is being conducted under the Rocky 

Flats Cleanup Agreement, which is the legally binding agreement that provides the 

framework for the cleanup effort.1

 The cleanup agreement specifies the roles of the 

Department of Energy (DOE) and the two regulatory agencies for the site: the 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Colorado Department of Public 

Health and Environment (Colorado). In February 2001, when GAO last reported on 

DOE’s project to clean up and close the Rocky Flats site,2 the project was slightly 

over cost and behind schedule. The vast amount of work remaining to be done at 

that time, along with various major challenges facing the cleanup contractor, made it 

doubtful that the contractor could achieve its December 2006 closure goal. But now 

the contractor hired by DOE (Kaiser-Hill Company, L.L.C.) plans to complete the 

physical cleanup portion of the work early and under budget. The regulatory 

agencies’ final decision on the adequacy of the cleanup will take another year or so 

after completion of the physical cleanup, and the majority of the planned wildlife 

refuge will not open to the public for at least 5 years. 

 

1

In addition, the cleanup must be conducted in accordance with all applicable statutes, including the 

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, as amended, also 

known as Superfund; and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, as amended. 

 

2

GAO, Nuclear Cleanup: Progress Made at Rocky Flats, but Closure by 2006 Is Unlikely, and Costs 

May Increase, GAO-01-284 (Washington, D.C.: Feb. 28, 2001). 
Page 2 GAO-05-1044R Rocky Flats Closure Project 

In this context, you asked us to determine (1) the key factors that contributed to the 

progress of the Rocky Flats cleanup; (2) when the Rocky Flats cleanup is scheduled 

to be completed, and at what total cost, including long-term stewardship costs; and 

(3) what measures DOE and the regulatory agencies are taking to determine that the 

cleanup will achieve a level of protection of public health and environment consistent 

with the cleanup agreement. 

To address these objectives, we reviewed and analyzed project activity reports; 

decontamination and demolition accomplishments; financial documents; and 

scientific analyses, such as a study of how actinides3 migrate through soil and water 

and an assessment of the public health risk posed by contaminants remaining at the 

site. We reviewed the general content of these analyses but did not review the 

science underlying them. We also visited the site and observed cleanup activities, 

and we interviewed officials of DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, KaiserHill, EPA, Colorado, the Department of the Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service, and 

other entities. Further, we attended monthly meetings of the Rocky Flats Coalition of 

Local Governments and the Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory Board. We briefed you 

and your staff on the preliminary results of our review. This report summarizes our 

briefing, and the enclosure contains the briefing slides presented. We reviewed the 

data used to prepare this report and determined that they were sufficiently reliable 

for the purposes of the report. We conducted the work for this report from March 

through September 2005 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing 

standards. Our work is continuing, and we expect to issue a final report on the 

Rocky Flats cleanup project in March 2006. 

Key Factors that Contributed to the Cleanup’s Progress 

According to DOE, the contractor, and the regulatory agencies, four key factors 

contributed to the cleanup’s progress to date. These key factors are as follows: 

• The cost-plus-incentive-fee contract provided Kaiser-Hill with strong profit 

incentives to complete the work quickly and safely. These profit incentives 

drove site workers to look for innovative and creative cleanup solutions 

because, for example, workers could receive bonuses for cost-saving 

suggestions. The incentives also led to a continuing focus on safety, as one 

significant safety infraction could shut down work in a building or throughout 

the site. 

• EPA’s Superfund accelerated cleanup process allowed cleanup actions to 

proceed much more quickly and collaboratively than would have happened 

under the traditional Superfund process. As the cleanup progressed, DOE, 

Kaiser-Hill, EPA, and Colorado staff often worked side by side in the field, 

participating in or observing soil removal actions and confirmatory sampling 

procedures. 

 

3

Actinides are a series of radioactive chemical elements with atomic numbers 89 (actinium) through 

105 (hafnium). 
Page 3 GAO-05-1044R Rocky Flats Closure Project 

• A confluence of site-specific events—climatic, geologic, chemical, and 

structural—aided the cleanup effort by confining both its scope and its 

complexity. For example, the dry Colorado climate and the alluvial fan4 on 

which the site is situated help to minimize erosion, thereby inhibiting offsite 

migration of contaminants. Also, the thick shale and clay stone that underlies 

the site prevents contaminants from seeping into the deep drinking-water 

aquifer. The chemical nature of key contaminants of concern at the site, 

plutonium and americium, also inhibit their migration, according to a study 

undertaken in the late 1990s. That is, these contaminants are relatively 

insoluble in water and tend to adhere to soil. Further, the robust construction 

of the plutonium production buildings at the site resulted in under-building 

contamination that was both less severe and less extensive than feared. 

• The major challenges facing the contractor at the time of our last report have 

been resolved, except for safety, which has since improved but nonetheless 

will remain a concern as long as work goes on at the site. Some of the 

challenges identified in our 2001 report were overcome through innovation, as 

workers constantly sought ways to complete their tasks more quickly and at 

less cost. Innovative techniques, such as the use of cerium nitrate to 

decontaminate gloveboxes so they could be shipped whole rather than cut into 

pieces, enabled the contractor to proceed with cleanup much faster and at less 

expense than anticipated. Other challenges—such as uncertainties about the 

end use of the site—were overcome through congressional action, such as 

passage of the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge Act of 2001. Resolution of 

the end use question led to resolution of the uncertainty about what cleanup 

levels were appropriate; this uncertainty was resolved through collaboration 

with the community and the regulatory agencies. Challenges posed by a balky 

plutonium packaging system were also overcome, as were challenges posed by 

insufficient numbers of available transportation casks and inadequate loading 

capability for certain wastes. 

Cleanup Schedule and Cost 

The contractor plans to finish the physical completion portion of the cleanup at 

Rocky Flats in late October 2005. “Physical completion” means that the contractor 

has met all contractual requirements, which include, for example, removing all 

buildings, waste, vehicles, and signage from the site and remediating contamination 

to the appropriate levels.5

 After the contractor finishes its cleanup work, a number of 

regulatory and land-transfer events must occur before the Rocky Flats National 

Wildlife Refuge will open to the public. The estimated dates of some significant 

events include the following: 

 

4

An alluvial fan is a fan-shaped wedge of sediment that typically accumulates in arid or semi-arid 

climates on land where a stream emerges from a steep canyon onto a flat area. 

5

Should any problems arise following physical completion, such as additional contamination that the 

contractor should have remediated, under the terms of the contract, Kaiser-Hill would be responsible 

for coming back to the site and resolving the problems, according to DOE and Kaiser-Hill officials. 
Page 4 GAO-05-1044R Rocky Flats Closure Project 

• December 2005 -- DOE determines that the contractor has completed physical 

cleanup. 

 

• June 2006 -- DOE issues draft decision documents for public comment. 

• November 2006 – DOE, EPA, and Colorado issue final decision documents 

specifying the final remedy. 

• December 2006 – EPA certifies completion of the cleanup and removes 

portions of the site from Superfund’s national list of cleanup sites. 

 

• Early 2007 -- DOE transfers portions of the site to the Fish and Wildlife 

Service. 

• 2011 through 2016 -- Fish and Wildlife Service opens public access trails and 

facilities in the wildlife refuge. 

 

The cleanup project will cost about $7 billion (since 1995), according to DOE, which 

includes an approximately $510 million incentive fee to the contractor.6

 DOE 

estimates additional long-term surveillance and maintenance costs of at least $7 

million per year; this estimate is for fiscal years 2007 through 2011, although some of 

these costs may continue indefinitely. For contractor employees at Rocky Flats, 

DOE’s pension and postretirement benefits liability in fiscal year 2004 amounted to 

nearly $100 million. DOE expects to continue paying between $64 million and $110 

million per year for such benefits; the actual amount paid will fluctuate within this 

range depending on market and actuarial conditions and is expected to decrease after 

about 25 years. This estimate of benefit costs does not include up to an additional 

$15 million expected to be funded to cover additional payments for contractor 

employees whose benefits would be affected by the cleanup’s physical completion a 

year ahead of schedule. Additional costs associated with Rocky Flats include 

pending legislation that proposes authorizing up to $10 million to purchase some 

privately held mineral rights at Rocky Flats, and a growing number of claims under 

the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 for 

harmful beryllium exposure at the site.7

Measures Taken to Determine Cleanup’s Adequacy 

Numerous measures have been and are being taken to provide assurance to DOE and 

the regulatory agencies that the cleanup will achieve a level of protection of public 

health and the environment consistent with the cleanup agreement. These measures 

include EPA’s and Colorado’s regulatory approvals of interim and final cleanup 

actions, DOE-initiated cleanup verification reviews, and independent reviews by 

scientific organizations and contractors. The primary cleanup assurance measure to 

 

6

Unless otherwise specified, all values are DOE estimates as of 2005, in current dollars. 

7

The act required implementation of a program to provide compensation to employees of DOE, its 

predecessor agencies, and its contractors and subcontractors involved in nuclear weapons production 

and testing programs. 
Page 5 GAO-05-1044R Rocky Flats Closure Project 

date consists of regulatory approval of interim cleanup actions completed at 

individual hazardous substance sites. As of mid-September 2005, the regulatory 

agencies had approved the cleanup of 337 of the 360 individual sites. Another 21 sites 

were awaiting regulatory approval, and cleanup work at the 2 remaining sites had 

been completed, but the closeout report had not been finalized and sent to the 

regulators. Regulatory approval of these individual sites’ cleanup, along with other 

regulatory documents, will provide support for the final regulatory approval, which 

EPA estimates will occur in late 2006. 

A second cleanup assurance measure consists of three DOE-initiated actions to verify 

that the radiological surface soil contaminants have been sufficiently remediated. 

These actions, which began in the summer of 2005, consist of an aerial scan of the 

site, targeted ground-based scans of previously remediated areas, and the Oak Ridge 

Institute of Science and Education’s (ORISE) independent verification of portions of 

the surface soil cleanup. The preliminary results of these actions indicate the 

existence of some additional areas of contamination; DOE has remediated some of 

these already and plans to remediate the others. ORISE has not yet completed its 

planned verification work, pending ongoing discussions with DOE. Ironically, 

although these verification activities were undertaken to increase public confidence 

in the cleanup, the preliminary results have sparked additional questions from the 

public about the cleanup. Furthermore, outside cleanup reviews have also served as 

a cleanup assurance measure. For example, the Agency for Toxic Substances and 

Disease Registry completed a public health assessment of Rocky Flats in May 2005. 

This assessment concluded that, owing to the lack of exposure pathways, residual 

contamination at Rocky Flats posed no adverse health risk to the local population. 

Other reviews include studies by independent consultants hired by local communities 

to review cleanup actions associated with the original landfill and surface and 

groundwater issues. Recommendations from these studies have been shared with 

DOE, which is now in the process of responding to them. Finally, the Fish and 

Wildlife Service plans to take surface soil samples in areas corresponding with 

proposed trails in the future refuge. 

Preliminary Observations 

• The cleanup effort at Rocky Flats has been a massive and challenging 

undertaking, but it is not yet complete. Although the contractor plans to 

complete its work in late October 2005, regulatory activities will continue, as 

will any additional remediation required as a result of their conclusions. The 

final decision about the cleanup’s adequacy is EPA’s to make and will take at 

least another year. Even then, monitoring and maintenance activities will go 

on for decades. 

 

• Throughout the cleanup effort, DOE, the contractor, the regulatory agencies, 

and the Fish and Wildlife Service garnered valuable lessons. Some of these 

lessons, such as innovative cleanup techniques, may be useful to other DOE 

sites undergoing or planning cleanup. Other lessons, however, may not be 

transferable. For example, knowledge gained about the migration of 

plutonium and americium through soil at Rocky Flats may not be helpful to 
Page 6 GAO-05-1044R Rocky Flats Closure Project 

 cleanup efforts at sites located in wet climates, where migration of other types 

 of contaminants is extensive. 

We provided the contents of this report to DOE’s Office of Environmental 

Management, Legacy Management, and Rocky Flats Project Office; Kaiser-Hill; the 

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment; EPA; and the Fish and 

Wildlife Service. We obtained views on the report contents from officials of these 

offices who were involved in or knowledgeable about the Rocky Flats cleanup. 

These officials generally agreed with the content of this report. In addition, the 

officials offered technical clarifications that we incorporated as appropriate. 

- - - - - 

As agreed with your offices, we will make copies of this report available to others 

upon request. This report will also be available at no charge on GAO’s Web site at 

http://www.gao.gov. 

If you or your staff have any questions about this report, please contact me at (202) 

512-3841 or aloisee@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices of Congressional 

Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page of this report. Major 

contributors to this report include Daniel Feehan, Assistant Director; Claire Cyrnak; 

Glenn C. Fischer; Pam Tumler; and Keith Rhodes, GAO’s Chief Technologist. 

Gene Aloise 

Director, Natural Resources and 

 Environment 

Enclosure 
Page 7 GAO-05-1044R Rocky Flats Closure Project 

Enclosure 

Briefing Slides 

1

Nuclear Cleanup: Preliminary Results of the Review of the Department of 

Energy’s Rocky Flats Closure Project

Briefing for

Chairman, Subcommittee on Strategic Forces 

Committee on Armed Services

United States Senate

and

The Honorable Wayne Allard

United States Senate

September 22, 2005
Page 8 GAO-05-1044R Rocky Flats Closure Project 

Enclosure 

2

Background

• For nearly 40 years, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Rocky Flats site served as a nuclear weapons production facility, manufacturing 

plutonium triggers for nuclear weapons.

• Most of the production work occurred in the 385-acre industrial zone and resulted in the radiological or chemical contamination of about 200 of the 

site’s more than 800 structures and its soil and water. The remainder of 

the 6,300-acre site served as a buffer zone. 

• DOE is responsible for cleaning up Rocky Flats and awarded Kaiser-Hill Company, L.L.C., a contract to decontaminate and remove structures 

and remediate environmental contamination at the site.

• The Rocky Flats Cleanup Agreement is legally binding and provides the framework guiding the effort. The regulatory agencies are the 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Colorado Department 

of Public Health and Environment (Colorado).
Page 9 GAO-05-1044R Rocky Flats Closure Project 

Enclosure 

3

Research Objectives

(1) What key factors have contributed to the cleanup’s 

progress at Rocky Flats?

(2) When is the Rocky Flats cleanup scheduled to be 

completed, and at what total cost, including long-term 

stewardship costs?

(3) What measures are DOE and the regulatory agencies 

taking to determine that the cleanup will achieve a level of 

protection of public health and environment consistent with 

the cleanup agreement? 
Page 10 GAO-05-1044R Rocky Flats Closure Project 

Enclosure 

4

Scope and Methodology

To answer the objectives, we

• reviewed and analyzed scientific analyses and 

project planning and budgetary documents; 

• visited the Rocky Flats site and observed the 

cleanup work; and 

• interviewed officials of DOE; Kaiser-Hill; EPA; 

Colorado; Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service; and 

various community stakeholder groups, scientific 

organizations, and consultants.
Page 11 GAO-05-1044R Rocky Flats Closure Project 

Enclosure 

5

Summary

• According to DOE, the contractor, and the regulatory agencies, four 

key factors contributed to the cleanup’s progress at Rocky Flats. 

• The contractor’s physical cleanup work is scheduled for completion 

in late October 2005, but key steps remain before the planned 

wildlife refuge will open to the public. The total cleanup cost will 

approach $7 billion (since 1995), plus between $64 million and $110 

million a year in pension liabilities (this cost will decrease after about 

25 years), plus stewardship costs of about $7 million a year that will 

continue indefinitely.

• DOE, the regulatory agencies, and others are taking numerous 

measures (e.g., surveys, samples, monitoring, and independent 

reviews) to determine that the cleanup will meet the terms of the 

cleanup agreement.
Page 12 GAO-05-1044R Rocky Flats Closure Project 

Enclosure 

6

Key Factors in Cleanup Progress

Four key factors, according to DOE, the contractor, and the regulatory 

agencies, have contributed to the cleanup’s progress at Rocky Flats: 

1. the cost-plus-incentive-fee contract structure, which encouraged the contractor to finish early and safely; 

2. EPA’s Superfund accelerated cleanup process, and the 

collaboration that this process encouraged among DOE, the 

contractor, and the regulatory agencies;

3. site-specific characteristics that confined the cleanup’s scope and complexity, including climatic, geologic, structural, and chemical 

characteristics; and

4. overcoming the challenges we identified in 2001, such as completing the buildings’ cleanup and demolition; getting all the 

waste packaged and shipped; and working safely, which has 

improved but remains a concern.
Page 13 GAO-05-1044R Rocky Flats Closure Project 

Enclosure 

7

Schedule and Cost

• The contractor plans to complete its physical cleanup work in October 2005, but the regulatory agencies’ final decision on the adequacy of the 

cleanup will take another year or so, and the majority of the planned 

wildlife refuge will not open to the public for at least 5 years.

• Total cost of the cleanup project, from 1995 to present, will be nearly $7 billion.

• DOE estimates additional long-term surveillance and maintenance costs of at least $7 million per year, and some of these costs may continue 

indefinitely. 

• DOE will likely pay between $64 million and $110 million per year for up to 25 years, with costs decreasing thereafter, for contractor pensions 

and medical and life insurance benefits.

• Up to $10 million may be authorized to purchase some privately held mineral rights at Rocky Flats.
Page 14 GAO-05-1044R Rocky Flats Closure Project 

Enclosure 

8

Estimated Schedule and Cost

Timeline

Estimated Dates of Significant Events at Rocky Flats
Page 15 GAO-05-1044R Rocky Flats Closure Project 

Enclosure 

9

Cleanup Assurance Measures

DOE and others are taking numerous measures to determine that 

the cleanup will achieve a level of protection of public health and 

environment consistent with the cleanup agreement:

• Key scientific studies supporting cleanup actions

• Interim and final regulatory approvals by EPA and Colorado

• DOE-initiated verification of surface soil cleanup

• Aerial scan

• Targeted ground-based scans

• Oak Ridge Institute of Science and Education’s verification of portions of the surface soil cleanup 

• Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry’s final public health assessment

• Reviews by outside consultants

• Fish and Wildlife Service’s future property review
Page 16 GAO-05-1044R Rocky Flats Closure Project 

Enclosure 

10

Preliminary Observations

• A confluence of events defined the cleanup’s parameters and contributed to DOE’s and regulatory agencies’ confidence in 

the cleanup. But the cleanup is not finished. Regulatory 

activities are continuing, and they may result in the need for 

additional remediation. The final decision about the 

cleanup’s adequacy is EPA’s to make and will take at least 

another year.

• The Rocky Flats cleanup has been a massive and challenging undertaking through which many lessons have 

been learned—by all parties. Many of these lessons may be 

applicable to DOE’s cleanup efforts at other sites; others may 

not be. What worked at Rocky Flats may not necessarily 

work at a site whose geology, climate, and contaminants 

render the cleanup effort more extensive.

(360626) 
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