Nuclear waste cleanup agency undermined by staff shortages, report says

[Marlin]

https://www.govexec.com/oversight/2024/07/nuclear-waste-cleanup-agency-undermined-staff-shortages-report-says/398189/

[News Wire]

The Government Accountability Office reports that the Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management maintains a 17 percent vacancy rate in mission-critical positions. With nearly half of the current staff eligible for retirement by 2030, the agency lacks a formal strategy to address these workforce gaps. These staffing challenges threaten the long-term oversight and execution of federal nuclear waste cleanup projects.

The Energy Department's Office of Environmental Management had a 17% vacancy rate at the end of fiscal 2023 and most were mission-critical roles.

At the Energy Department's Office of Environmental Management, 44% of staff will be eligible for retirement by fiscal 2030. boonchai wedmakawand / Getty Images

The federal agency responsible for cleaning up nuclear waste is critically understaffed and doesn't have a viable strategy to fix long-standing workforce shortages, according to a Government Accountability Office report released on Thursday.

Read the full article at Government Executive:
https://www.govexec.com/oversight/2024/07/nuclear-waste-cleanup-agency-undermined-staff-shortages-report-says/398189/

[Mounder]

A monster number of DOE EM feds took the Elon Musk DRP offer. Only SES executives were blocked from taking it for the most part. Those spots are not being posted or back-filled by design.
I recall seeing a listing of DOE EM job types at different sites being granted or not granted DRP approval.  It was odd that Rad Engineering staff were being blocked but not the health physicists.