Hanford is among the Department of Energy sites found to have unused weapons that weren't given to other federal programs that could have used them, said a new audit by the DOE Office of Inspector General.

The audit looked at Hanford and five other sites or programs, finding they had spent almost $2.9 million on weapons that had been stored for one to 15 years.

"Sites had not made these unneeded weapons available by officially declaring them as excess and entering them into the Energy Asset Disposal System at the time of our review," the audit said.

The audit was conducted from December 2007 to September 2008, and results were released Tuesday.

At Hanford $866,000 worth of unspecified weapons had been stored for up to two and a half years as of June, the audit said. The audit did not detail what kind of weaponry was stored at Hanford.

Hanford was required to upgrade its security based on the 2005 Design Basis Threat, a classified document that identified potential size and capabilities of possible foes. DOE has revised its security posture several times since Sept. 11, 2001, based on identified threats and adversaries.

In response to the 2005 requirements, Hanford purchased additional weapons and ammunition at a cost of almost $1.6 million and acquired numerous weapons from other sites.

However, in April 2006 a decision was made to return Hanford to its previous security level.

"This decision left the site with a stockpile of weapons and ammunition that were no longer needed," the report said.

Hanford officials did not want to give up good or new weapons in case their security strategy might require them in the future, they told auditors.

"They indicated that some weapons can be hard to get and can take up to a year to receive, and therefore, there was a concern that they would not be able to acquire these weapons again if needed," the audit said.

But other DOE sites could have used the weapons and instead had to purchase them, the audit said. The DOE Office of Secure Transportation could have saved a significant portion of the $890,000 it spent on weaponry in 2006 by acquiring the Hanford weapons, the audit said.

Most of those newly purchased weapons also were unneeded a year later as the office's security plans changed.

"While we recognize that any strategy is subject to change, retaining valuable unneeded property in anticipation of a future event that may or may not occur is an inefficient use of resources," the audit said.

A lack of clear DOE guidance contributed to problems with the management of excess weapons, the audit said. It recommended that the DOE National Nuclear Security Administration develop policies outlining timelines for declaring equipment as excess and making them available to other DOE sites or federal law enforcement agencies.

DOE generally agreed with the recommendation. It told the Office of Inspector General last month that it would immediately issue a letter saying that assets should be put into the Energy Asset Disposal System as soon as possible but no later than 60 days from the date they were determined to be unneeded.