Nuclear Waste: Addressing Legal and Regulatory Barriers Could Accelerate Cleanup and Reduce Costs

What GAO Found The Department of Energy’s (DOE) nuclear waste cleanup is proceeding largely under three laws that set cleanup and waste management requirements. Each law has different requirements, applications, and regulators. Selected Cleanup and Waste Management Laws and Regulators for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Nuclear Waste Cleanup GAO and experts GAO convened with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine identified several legal and regulatory factors that affect the cost and schedule of DOE’s nuclear waste cleanup.