Waste minimization, as mandated by the Congress, requires, the elimination or reduction of the generation of waste as its source, that is, before it can become waste. This audit was made to determine the adequacy of DOE's efforts to minimize the generation of waste. The audit emphasized radioactive and other hazardous waste generation at DOE's nuclear weapons production plants and design laboratories. We included waste minimization activities and actions that can be taken now, in contrast to the long-range weapons complex modernization effort. We reviewed waste minimization activities within the Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management (EM), the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Defense Programs (DP), the Hazardous Waste Remedial Action Program Office, and the Waste Minimization Management Group (WMMG) in the Albuquerque Field Office. Waste minimization programs were examined in detail at the three largest nuclear weapons production facilities -- the Rocky Flats plant, which manufactures plutonium parts; the Y-12 facility, which produces uranium components; and the Savannah River site, which manufactures and loads tritium -- and two of DOE's weapons design laboratories, Los Alamos and Sandia.
