What GAO Found

The Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) has become further understaffed since GAO reported on EM's workforce challenges in July 2024. From fiscal year (FY) 2023 through FY 2025, total staff decreased by 33 percent, from 1,272 to 856. This created an overall vacancy rate of 45 percent as of the end of FY 2025, based on a staffing need of 1,515 full-time employees that EM identified in FY 2023.

This understaffing includes shortages in mission-critical occupations that are integral to carrying out EM's mission, which includes addressing contaminated buildings, soil, and groundwater, and treating radioactive waste.

Federal Staff in Selected Mission-Critical Occupations at the Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management (EM), End of Fiscal Year (FY) 2025

Source: GAO analysis of Department of Energy and EM information. | GAO-26-108674

EM experienced high attrition in FY 2025. Most staff left through the Deferred Resignation Program (DRP), and attrition will likely remain high, according to EM data. Of the 409 staff who left EM in FY 2025, 76 percent (312) separated through the DRP. Almost half (180) were in mission-critical occupations.

EM's remaining workforce is aging. EM's data indicate that, as of the end of FY 2025, 35 percent of EM's remaining staff, and 30 percent in mission-critical occupations, will be eligible for retirement by 2030.

According to officials, EM plans to hire about 174 new staff in FY 2026, based on its FY 2026 budget, to help offset staffing gaps. As of March 2026, officials said EM is reassessing staffing needs and did not plan to change work scopes to match any potential changes in workforce numbers while considering reorganization. A reduction in identified staffing needs would eliminate some vacant positions, according to officials.

In July 2024, GAO reported that EM's levels of understaffing and workforce management challenges had caused schedule delays, cost overruns, and workplace accidents. These events all affected EM's mission to clean up nuclear waste, according to DOE assessments. GAO concluded that without efforts to address workforce challenges, severe staffing shortages threatened EM's ability to meet its mission.

Why GAO Did This Study

EM relies on federal staff to oversee its nuclear waste cleanup, which is the result of decades of nuclear weapons production and research at locations across the country. Since January 2025, several executive orders, memoranda, and related programs have affected EM's workforce.

GAO was asked to provide updated information on the EM workforce data that it had reported in July 2024 in GAO-24-106479.

This report describes EM's workforce capacity including the composition and attrition rates as of the end of FY 2025. GAO reviewed agency documents, analyzed EM's human capital data for fiscal years 2023 through 2025, and interviewed EM officials.