Natural Resources and Environment:

Quarterly Report on DOE's Nuclear Waste Program as of March 31, 1986

RCED-86-154FS, Apr 30, 1986

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Pursuant to congressional requests, GAO provided its quarterly status report on the Department of Energy's (DOE) implementation of its nuclear waste program.

GAO found that, during the quarter: (1) the National Academy of Sciences completed its independent review of the methodology DOE used to evaluate and rank first-repository sites and concluded that the methodology was satisfactory and appropriate; (2) DOE completed its proposal for a monitored retrievable storage facility, but a federal court ruled that DOE could not submit the proposal to Congress, and DOE was awaiting a decision on its appeal to a higher court; (3) DOE issued a draft area recommendation report which identified 12 areas in 7 states as potentially acceptable sites for a second waste repository; (4) the Nuclear Waste Fund collected over $128 million in fees and investment income and obligated over $100 million for program activities; and (5) the Fund balance as of March 31, 1986, was about $1.6 billion.