Recent Reports to Review
National Nuclear Security Administration: Actions to Recruit and Retain Federal Staff Could Be Improved
GAO | 05/29/2024
The National Nuclear Security Administration is responsible for the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile and nonproliferation efforts. Its federal workforce of about 1,800 staff oversees over 55,000 contractors.NNSA faces challenges recruiting and retaining federal staff, partly because of intense competition with other agencies and the private sector for skills that are in high demand. The agency has increased outreach and offered incentive payments to help recruit and retain staff. However, it has not used performance measures regularly to determine whether its actions are working.
National Nuclear Security Administration:Improvements Needed for Overseeing Contractor Workforce Recruitment and Retention Efforts
GAO | 05/29/2024
The National Nuclear Security Administration relies on management and operating contractors to help carry out the agency's mission, especially as its research, production, and modernization efforts increase. NNSA's contractors have generally recruited and retained enough employees to meet staffing goals, but face challenges doing so. For example, NNSA has to approve contractors' requests to add some benefits—such as paid paternity leave—to their compensation packages.Contractors told us that the time for approvals can put them at a disadvantage in recruiting.
Nuclear Nonproliferation:Efforts Are Underway to Address Factors Affecting the International Atomic Energy Agency's Safeguards Program
GAO | 05/21/2024
The International Atomic Energy Agency supports nuclear nonproliferation through its safeguards program. This program applies a set of technical measures and inspections to ensure that countries are not diverting nuclear materials into weapons. The U.S. helps provide financial and other assistance to this agency.
However, we found that a number of factors affect this agency's ability to do its job.They include:funding and budget policies that limit how funds can be used, an increase in nuclear power worldwide, and new types of nuclear facilities that may require new monitoring methods.
Priority Open Recommendations: Nuclear Regulatory Commission
GAO | 05/20/2024
In May 2023, GAO identified eight priority recommendations for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Since then, NRC has implemented one of those eight priority recommendations, which improved the security of personally identifiable information. Seven priority recommendations remain open. In May 2024, GAO identified one additional priority recommendation for NRC, bringing the total number to eight. The eight recommendations involve areas such as addressing the security of radiological sources and improving the reliability of cost estimates. NRC's continued attention to these issues could lead to significant improvements in government operations.