GAO report outlines concerns with projects at New Mexico nuclear repository

In a report published Tuesday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) outlined concerns with an ongoing multimillion-dollar construction project at a nuclear waste repository in New Mexico.

The GAO report said the Energy Department’s plans for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the only underground nuclear waste repository in the country, may be delayed by regulatory and construction risks and that it was unclear if price increases and construction delays would continue at the site because the department was not required to develop a strategy for rectifying the root causes of problems, according to The Associated Press.

After a 2014 radiation leak that prompted a nearly three-year closure at the site, a  project estimated to cost roughly $486 million to install a new ventilation system is in progress and expected to be done in January 2026, the AP reported.

The project will ensure that the repository can meet the Energy Department’s nuclear-waste disposal needs from years of bomb making and nuclear research dating back to the Cold War era, federal officials have said, according to the wire service.

But documents from the department indicate that the project is almost 70 percent over its original budget and three years behind schedule, the AP reported.

Additionally, department officials told the GAO that despite taking some corrective steps, they had not updated the internal system intended to track risks and measures intended to mitigate them, according the wire service.

The GAO report noted that while the Energy Department has waste contaminated with radioactive elements requiring disposal at sites around the country, the repository is running out of allowed space for waste, according to the AP. It warned that department  officials may be unable to follow their schedule for disposing of waste, saying this could “create shipping delays and cost increases for the sites that are generating the waste.”

In response to the report, department officials agreed with recommendations meant to address the root causes behind delays in construction and rising prices to make sure that Department of Energy projects “benefit taxpayers while reducing the risk to human health and the environment,” according to the AP.