**GAO-09-451**                      Published: May 07, 2009. Publicly Released: Jun 08, 2009.                  

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## Highlights

The Department of Energy's (DOE) Hanford Site in Washington State stores 56 million gallons of untreated radioactive and hazardous wastes resulting from decades of nuclear weapons production. DOE is constructing facilities at the site to treat these wastes before permanent disposal. As part of meeting health, safety, and other standards, work at the site has sometimes been suspended to address safety or construction quality issues. This report discusses (1) work stoppages from January 2000 through December 2008 and what is known about them, (2) the types of costs associated with work stoppages and who paid for them, and (3) whether more effective regulation or oversight could have prevented the work stoppages. GAO interviewed knowledgeable DOE and contractor officials about these events. When documentation was available, GAO obtained DOE and contractor accident and safety incident reports, internal DOE and independent external evaluations, and costs.

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## Topics

Energy

Contractor paymentsContractor violationsCost analysisCost reimbursement contractsDocumentationFacility constructionHazardous wastesNuclear facilitiesNuclear facility safetyRadioactive waste disposalRadioactive wastesSafety regulationSafety standardsSchedule slippagesTanks (containers)Toxic substancesWaste disposalWaste managementWaste treatmentCorrective action