Office of Inspector General summary report on inspection of issues associated with the Department of Energy`s tritium source selection process

The Office of Inspector General received a letter dated August 31, 1998, from Senator Strom Thurmond concerning the selection of the tritium production source. The letter stated that information had been received which suggested that certain senior level Department officials may have engaged in a systematic effort to undermine the validity of the Accelerator for the Production of Tritium (APT) option, and that the then Deputy Secretary of Energy directed subordinates to fire an official in the Office of Defense Programs because this official had raised concerns about the cost evaluations of the two tracks, the APT and the Commercial Light Water Reactor (CLWR) option. The objective of this inspection was to address questions presented in the August 31, 1998, letter. The inspection found no persuasive evidence that there was a systematic effort to undermine the validity of the APT option. Similarly, the auditors did not find evidence that Department principals or staff worked to improperly influence the outcome of the Dual Track process to advance one option over the other