Policy

Audit: Poor Management Blamed for Flagging Nuclear Waste Program

Facility 11 years behind schedule and costs have tripled

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Government auditors say a project to replace an aging radioactive waste treatment facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory is 11 years behind schedule and its price tag has nearly tripled because of ineffective management.

The Department of Energy's Inspector General report is the latest government report to detail cost overruns and delays by projects overseen by the National Nuclear Security Administration.

The audit says NNSA and Los Alamos have spent $56 million since 2004 on plans to replace its old and sometimes failing Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility. But design work is still not complete and the two-phase project now won't be finished until 2017 and 2020.