Hundreds of federal workers in charge of nuclear waste cleanup took the Trump administration’s resignation offers. Now, the most radioactively contaminated parts of the country are being overseen with a fraction of the staff.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, tasked with cleaning up vast nuclear contamination from World War II and Cold War-era weapons programs, is operating with roughly half its normal workforce, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office, Congress’ watchdog agency. The vacancy rate for the office is 45% overall; for critical positions like general engineers and nuclear engineers, who are responsible for managing and designing the safe disposal of nuclear waste, the vacancy rates are now both over 50%.

“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,” the GAO wrote in a report commissioned by Rep. Frank Pallone, the New Jersey Democrat who serves as the ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The vast majority of those vacancies occurred directly because of the Trump administration’s programs incentivizing federal workers to resign.

Hanford, the former Manhattan Project nuclear-production facility in Washington state, lost more than 100 full-time agency employees between the end of the 2023 and 2025 fiscal years.

“President Trump has single-handedly weakened the critical cleanup work at Hanford and other sites with his slash-and-burn campaign to push out federal workers. It will take years to undo these reckless setbacks—but I am going to fight tooth and nail to keep this cleanup on track and hold this administration accountable,” Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington state, said in a statement to NOTUS about the GAO’s findings.

The Savannah River site, which takes up more than 300 square miles in South Carolina contaminated by Cold War-era nuclear production, lost just under 100 full-time staffers, nearly halving its total number of federal cleanup employees.

Carlsbad, New Mexico, which is the country’s only deep geologic repository for certain types of nuclear waste, is currently operating without anyone serving in any of its four jobs for facility oversight, as well as a fifth related job for a facility director. The people who hold those jobs are normally responsible for safety oversight, according to the GAO.

“The facility representative position is chronically understaffed at many of EM’s sites,” the watchdog wrote.

A DOE spokesperson said in a statement that the Office of Environmental Management “remains fully equipped with the expertise necessary to carry out mission-critical projects, including with regards to addressing contaminated buildings, soil, and groundwater, and treating radioactive waste.”

“Thanks to President Trump, the Energy Department’s Environmental Management Office is advancing common sense solutions that protect public health and safety, fulfill cleanup responsibilities, and deliver greater value for the American taxpayer,” the spokesperson said.

This is not the first time the administration’s handling of nuclear waste oversight has led to scrutiny. As NOTUS reported in 2025, the Department of Government Efficiency attempted to close the office that houses oversight for the Carlsbad facility. It ultimately reversed its decision amid public outcry.

An earlier GAO investigation in 2024 concluded that the DOE’s nuclear waste office was already at risk of failing to meet its mission because of staffing problems.

The Trump administration has yet to adopt any of the watchdog’s recommendations.