Summary: In response to a congressional request, GAO examined the Department of Energy's (DOE) environment, safety, and health (ES&H) activities, including: (1) the possibility that DOE could reduce the visibility and management it currently gives to safety and health issues; (2) legislatively mandated independent oversight of DOE nuclear facilities; and (3) unclear safety standards.
GAO found that: (1) DOE created an Assistant Secretary for ES&H in 1985 to oversee the operations and contractors responsible for its nuclear defense facilities; (2) since the health and safety functions of the office were not legislatively mandated, DOE could relegate these issues to a level that would not provide top management attention; (3) although DOE created an advisory committee on nuclear facility safety, it did not meet GAO criteria for effective and independent oversight; and (4) since DOE did not determine what commercial safety standards were applicable to its nuclear facilities, it could not determine if its facilities were safe compared to commercial nuclear facilities.
