But DOE may have problems finding the upper-level scientific expertise to begin what is predicted to be a 30-year cleanup effort. A preliminary study of the staff DOE will need for the first five-year phase of cleanup concluded that the agency will be well-supplied with most of the estimated 25,000 technicians, scientists, and other workers it needs; about half will be existing DOE personnel who will be retrained. But the report warns that the agency may find it hard to fill certain niche scientific disciplines.
"The scope of what we are trying to do is immense. It is bigger than the Manhattan Project by orders of magnitude," says Leo P. Duffy, assistant secretary for environmental restoration and waste management at DOE.
Among the staff it needs in 53 scientific, engineering, and technical occupations, DOE has requirements for some high-level scientists who are, even now, in great demand here, the report ...
