{"id":19279,"date":"2018-08-03T22:38:29","date_gmt":"2018-08-03T22:38:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/08\/03\/breaking-the-big-e-already-more-than-1-billion-in-projected-costs-and-snarled-in-red-tape\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T18:55:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:55:51","slug":"breaking-the-big-e-already-more-than-1-billion-in-projected-costs-and-snarled-in-red-tape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2018\/08\/03\/breaking-the-big-e-already-more-than-1-billion-in-projected-costs-and-snarled-in-red-tape\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking the Big E: Already more than $1 billion in projected costs and snarled in red tape"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Scrapping the world\u2019s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier could cost the Navy as much as $1.5 billion and take more than a decade to complete, according to the Government Accountability Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the final price tag and the future timetable for dismantling the decommissioned Enterprise ultimately will depend on whether the Navy can contract with a private shipyard to finish the job or make its Puget Sound Naval Shipyard do the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The private sector option would be cheaper and faster, but the project is tangled in bureaucratic red tape, the federal watchdog agency warned in a report released on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s mostly due to squabbling between the Navy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission over which agency can legally oversee the dismantling project if it\u2019s handed over to a commercial shipyard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By law, Naval Reactors is the Navy department handling all the service\u2019s nuclear propulsion programs while the NRC oversees civilian nuclear reactors, materials and waste disposal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Navy officials began requesting bids from commercial contractors in 2016 but had to stop in early 2017 because of the ongoing dispute.<\/p>\n\n\n\t