The Energy Department announced on December 20, 1996 that it would ask Congress to transfer oversight of the safety of its various nuclear sites, including those contaminated during the arms race, from the department to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). 

"Independent safety regulation will provide a safer and healthier environment for our workers throughout the complex and the public around our sites," outgoing Energy Secretary Hazel R. O'Leary said in a statement. The department plans to submit legislation to phase in the transfer of oversight responsibilities over 10 years to the NRC, gradually shifting responsibilities from the department and from an independent board that oversees safety of some of the department's defense-related activities.

Tribal governments have often expressed their concern that the DOE serves as a self-regulating agency in the clean up of nuclear facilities, many of which are located on or near Indian lands. The DOE serves as both regulator and a participant with an interest in the outcome. Because of this, tribal governments distrust the agency's efforts as a regulator to resolve differences between parties and have accused the DOE of excluding viewpoints that are known to be different from those of the agency administrators.

The NRC has not taken a firm position on whether it wants to become the Energy Department's overseer, although NRC Chairwoman Shirley Jackson has said her agency would be the appropriate body. The DOE estimated the cost of external regulation would be about $135 million annually. But it said overall safety and health costs for the department's nuclear facilities still should drop significantly as a number of sites are slated to be closed.