(The Center Square) – A federal agency estimated it will cost about $140 billion to enrich uranium for national security through 2105, but hasn’t reported that figure to Congress as required, a watchdog found.
The Government Accountability Office made the finding in a new report, recommending that the National Nuclear Security Administration report the figures so lawmakers can weigh the cost of the government’s long-term enrichment plans.
NNSA’s estimate covers three enrichment efforts it is pursuing to meet long-term national security needs, including the design and construction of facilities, the centrifuges required to enrich the uranium, decades of operations and eventual decommissioning.
The agency’s preliminary estimate put the cost at about $36.8 billion through 2052 and about $140 billion, in inflation-adjusted dollars, through 2105. GAO said it did not assess the reliability of the long-term figure because NNSA considers it preliminary.
NNSA’s most recent management plan, sent to Congress in August 2024, did not include the cost and schedule estimates the law requires, GAO found.
NNSA later developed a preliminary long-term estimate and provided it to GAO about a year later, but has not yet included it in the required report to Congress.
Reporting the estimates would inform Congress of future costs as it weighs production options, GAO said. The agency’s existing uranium inventory is likely sufficient to meet national security needs only until the early 2040s, according to the report.
An NNSA spokesperson told The Center Square that the agency “will continue to provide current long-term cost estimates or other updated estimates to Congress through appropriate mechanisms,” including a report on restoring domestic uranium enrichment and future Enriched Uranium Management Plans.
The spokesperson did not answer why NNSA’s 2024 report to Congress omitted the cost estimates, which the agency developed after that plan was filed.
NNSA officials pointed to challenges in the report. They told auditors that knowledge within the federal government about managing enrichment has atrophied, and that the agency’s site contractors would be strained by another major construction project because NNSA is already pursuing numerous capital projects. Many of those projects are running over budget and behind schedule.
Congress directed the review in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. NNSA says it will include the cost estimates in future reports, but the last plan it was required to send Congress left them out, leaving lawmakers without the agency’s preliminary cost estimate for an effort expected to span about 80 years.