All Reports

Over the last several years, there has been anecdotal information indicating a high level of turnover among the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) executives. We initiated this audit to review the costs associated with the hiring and dismissal of executives brought in from outside TVA since the change to TVA's part-time Board of Directors.

This review was initiated as part of the Office of the Inspector General's commitment to provide oversight of coal combustion product (CCP) management. The objective of our review was to determine if TVA was meeting its commitments for CCP management.We found TVA was meeting its commitments for CCP management. Specifically, we found TVA has implemented programmatic improvements, stabilized its coal ash storage facilities, and improved oversight of CCP management. Additionally, we found TVA was taking steps to become an industry leader in CCP management.

This review was initiated as a follow-up to Inspection 2010-13530, Review of TVA's Fossil Fire Protection Systems, issued September 30, 2011. Fire protection systems are a combination of mechanical and electrical components and like power generation equipment, need regular attention.

As a result of findings in a recent evaluation 2012-14845, Review of TVA's Nuclear Power Group Preventive Maintenance, we conducted a review of coal plant preventive maintenance (PM). The objective of our review was to determine if PM was performed in accordance with established schedules and if not, what effect the deviations were having.We found compliance with PM schedules varies by plant, and the PM compliance metric captured may not fully represent all PM activities not completed. The monthly PM compliance percentage varied from 10.5 to 100 percent.

Based on the findings of a previous review, we evaluated the TVA Nuclear Power Group (NPG) Groundwater Protection Program (GWPP). The objectives of our review were to determine if NPG's GWPP performed required monitoring and reporting and completed required corrective actions based on monitoring results.While NPG's GWPP performed required reporting, we could not verify the monitoring requirements in TVA's NPG standard programs and processes were followed.

The Office of the Inspector General included a review of Revenue Billing's invoice preparation process for local power companies (LPC) on its annual audit plan because of the significance of this source of revenue to TVA.

The Office of the Inspector General performed this review as part of its ongoing effort to provide oversight of the Kingston Recovery Project to determine if TVA is meeting its commitments for the Kingston Recovery Project.Our review found TVA has met or is meeting its commitments for the Kingston Recovery Project. Community leaders and regulatory personnel interviewed were satisfied with TVA's actions to meet its commitments.In order to address these commitments, TVA has taken a number of steps.

The Office of the Inspector General audited costs billed to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) by Bechtel Power Corporation for services provided by Bartlett Holdings, Inc. Bartlett was to furnish qualified personnel to Bechtel on a seconded basis for the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Unit 2 construction completion project. Our audit included approximately $121.4 million in payments made by TVA for services provided under the subcontract from January 1, 2010, through September 30, 2013.

The Office of the Inspector General initiated a review of the Energy Services Company (ESCO), currently known as the Federal Energy Services Program. The objective of the review was to evaluate whether the program was meeting its intended purpose of providing energy efficiency for the customer. TVA was unable to provide documentation to allow determination of the amount of actual energy efficiency achieved, specifically by ESCO, for two of the three current customers participating in the program.

The Office of the Inspector General evaluated the effectiveness of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) processes for identifying and managing actual and potential environmental issues and risks. TVA's Environmental Management System (EMS) program was established to manage environmental impacts of TVA operations and help fulfill commitments of TVA's Environmental Policy.