Findings by the U.S. Government Accountability Office warns that the U.S. Department of Energy may struggle to maintain safe operations at its cleanup sites around the country after losing hundreds of staff members and struggle to fill those roles. 

The report, released May 19, found that 409 staff members, or 38% of the workforce, left DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) in fiscal year 2025. Mission critical positions have seen 183 departures since fiscal year 2023, contributing to a 44% vacancy rate. More than half of the roles associated with general and nuclear engineering were vacant. 

GAO specifically called out 96 staff departures from Hanford, which represented one third of EM’s workforce at the site. Auditors noted that many participated in the Deferred Resignation Program, which was developed as part of tech mogul Elon Musk’s efforts to slash government spending through the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. 

“At Hanford about 30% of those who separated were in mission-critical positions, including some federal project directors. Another 30% of the remaining Hanford Site employees will be retirement-eligible by the end of 2030,” read the report. 

In 2024 GAO urged EM officials to better develop its workforce plans to avoid the problems the agency was facing due to short staffing, which include 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. 

According to officials, EM officials told GAO that they plan to hire about 174 new staff in the current fiscal year to help offset staffing gaps. However, as of March 2026, the agency is is reassessing staffing needs and EM officials “did not plan to change work scopes to match any potential changes in workforce numbers while considering reorganization,” which includes eliminating some vacant positions. 

To read the full report, go to: https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-26-108674.pdf