February 27, 2001

Sale of Enriched Uranium at the Fernald Environmental Management Project

In October 1997, the prime contractor at the Fernald Environmental Management Project (Fernald), Fluor Fernald, Inc. (Fluor), accepted competitive bids for the sale of 978 metric tons of enriched uranium located at Fernald. For this sale, Fluor was required to repackage, weigh, sample, and deliver the material to the winning bidder on the Department of Energy's (Department) behalf. The Department authorized Fluor to offset costs that were directly related to the sale and return the net proceeds to the U.S. Treasury (Treasury). Fluor estimated that the sale would realize net proceeds of $5 million to $7 million for return to the Treasury. This was based on projected sales revenue of $10.5 million. The objective of this audit was to determine whether the Department returned proceeds from the sale of enriched uranium to the Treasury.