As a result of the Department of Energy's nuclear weapons program legacy, its Oak
Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) stores about 1.4 metric tons of uranium containing
450 kilograms of uranium-233 (U-233). The material is currently stored in a
deteriorating facility at ORNL that is over 60 years old. Because of its highly radioactive
and dangerous properties, the U-233 is stored in a shielded storage location and must be
handled in hot cells to protect workers from exposure. Since there were no
programmatic uses for the material, the Department initiated efforts to dispose of it in
2001. In 2003, however, the conferees to the Fiscal Year 2003 Omnibus Appropriations
Act authorized the extraction of thorium-229, a material that is useful in medical and
research isotope production, prior to disposal of the U-233.
In response, the Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) developed a three-phased approach for
the thorium extraction process. In October 2003, NE awarded a contract to Isotek
Systems, LLC (Isotek), to plan and design the facilities needed to extract the thorium and
process the U-233 into a stable form for storage. In November 2005, however, the
conferees to the Fiscal Year 2006 Energy and Water Appropriations Act directed the
Department to terminate thorium extraction and to transfer responsibility for management
and disposition of the U-233 to the Office of Environmental Management (EM),
effectively ending any potential for obtaining medical research isotopes from this
process. EM began managing the project and the Isotek contract, focusing on the
processing and subsequent disposal of the U-233 at the Department's Waste Isolation
Pilot Plant (WIPP). EM approved the project's $384 million performance baseline on
May 25, 2007, and authorized long-lead procurements and dismantlement activities in
preparation for facility construction. Due to the risk associated with this disposition
effort, we initiated this audit to determine whether the Department had adequately
managed the U-233 disposition project.
