In this May 9, 2017, file photo, signs are posted by the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Richland, Wash. By conducting some of the most high-tech research in the world, maintaining the U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons and cleaning up after decades of bomb-making, the Department of Energy has its share of management challenges. A report released this week outlines some of those challenges while providing a look at the expansive scope of the department's responsibilities and costly liabilities. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes, File) The U.S. Department of Energy has its share of challenges as it conducts some of the world's most high-tech research, maintains a stockpile of nuclear weapons and cleans up after decades of bomb-making.
A report released this week outlines some of those management struggles while providing a look at the expansive scope of the department's responsibilities and costly liabilities.
According to work over the past year, the agency's inspector general says a growing problem is oversight and management of more than 11,300 contracts to keep operations humming at 17 national laboratories, dozens of contaminated sites and other facilities.
Most of the agency's $30 billion budget goes to contracts.
The report identifies millions of dollars in losses related to quality assurance and other problems at sites from Washington state to New Mexico and South Carolina.
This undated file aerial photo shows the Los Alamos National laboratory in Los Alamos, N.M. By conducting some of the most high-tech research in the world, maintaining the U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons and cleaning up after decades of bomb-making, the Department of Energy has its share of management challenges. A report released this week outlines some of those challenges while providing a look at the expansive scope of the department's responsibilities and costly liabilities. (The Albuquerque Journal via AP, file) 
This March 6, 2014 file photo shows the idled Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the nation's only underground nuclear waste repository, near Carlsbad, N.M. By conducting some of the most high-tech research in the world, maintaining the U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons and cleaning up after decades of bomb-making, the Department of Energy has its share of management challenges. A report released this week outlines some of those challenges while providing a look at the expansive scope of the department's responsibilities and costly liabilities. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File)
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