Energy Dept. Missing Millions in Equipment, Auditors Report

Energy Department contractors cannot account for tens of millions of dollars’ worth of equipment, much of it either stolen or disposed of as trash, government auditors reported Thursday.

In one incident, furniture and other equipment was stored with radioactive material at the Fernald weapons facility in Ohio and, as a result, had to be buried at the Nevada nuclear test site, Energy Department Inspector General John Layton said.

Investigators for the General Accounting Office and the inspector general said at a Senate hearing that contractors running federal nuclear weapons plants have shown widespread disregard for excess equipment, leading to millions of dollars in government losses.

“The department has lost or could not account for . . . computers, forklifts, furniture, welders, X-ray machines and even a semi-trailer,” complained Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio), who is chairman of the Government Affairs Committee.

Energy Department officials acknowledged that contractors at Energy Department facilities in Colorado, New Mexico, Ohio and elsewhere have had shoddy property inventory programs, despite clear federal requirements and procedures for disposing of usable property.

Deputy Energy Secretary Bill White said the department has begun detailed inventories to establish a “base line” of equipment held by contractors and to curtail future losses.

The Energy Department owns more than $13 billion in personal property, from furniture to sophisticated testing and research equipment, with about 90% of it in the hands of private contractors at laboratories and weapons plants.

Among the findings of audits over the last three years:

* In a 1993 audit at the Rocky Flats weapons plant in Colorado, $29.8-million worth of equipment was reported missing or unaccounted for, including a semi-trailer, forklifts, cameras, desks, typewriters and computers.

* The Los Alamos laboratory in New Mexico, auditors said, may not be able to account for $100-million worth of equipment, including computers, X-ray machines and other sophisticated equipment.