Internal DOE probe urged

Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2000 | 11:16 a.m.

Nevada Sen. Harry Reid plans to ask the Department of Energy's inspector general to investigate whether criminal laws were violated in the drafting of a report that recommends Yucca Mountain as the nation's high-level nuclear waste dump.

"I think what the DOE did was wrong and probably illegal," Reid told the Sun Tuesday. "You can't do a biased report to jerk people around who are opposed to storing nuclear waste in Nevada."

Reid, elected Tuesday to a second two-year term as assistant Democratic leader, said he would send a letter requesting the investigation to the DOE's inspector general in Washington by the end of the week.

Last week, after the Sun reported that it had obtained documents suggesting the DOE was collaborating with the nuclear industry to recommend Yucca Mountain, Reid said he would conduct his own congressional investigation into the DOE's actions.

He said he would use his Environment and Public Works Committee, which has oversight of the nation's high-level nuclear waste plan, as a springboard for public hearings in Washington early next year.

With Congress headed for a historic 50-50 split, Reid, as the committee's ranking Democrat, could become the panel's chairman or co-chairman next year, giving him even more influence in the fight against Yucca Mountain.

Reid's call for an internal DOE investigation topped an outpouring of reaction from Nevada officials angry with the federal agency.

Gov. Kenny Guinn said this morning the DOE has lost credibility with him.

He said he wants to call a summit of elected leaders in Nevada and Washington -- similar to a forum he held in February 1999 -- to discuss a strategy to counter the latest developments coming out of the DOE.

"We need to sit down and re-examine our position," Guinn said. "I'm still extremely disappointed. We worked very openly and diligently with the DOE."

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., also kept up the pressure on the DOE, sending a "dear colleague" letter to her fellow House members on Capitol Hill condemning the agency's actions.

"It is unconscionable that the DOE and nuclear industry would conspire in such manipulative tactics at the risk of the health and safety of millions of Americans, not only in Nevada, but in the 43 states that the waste will travel," Berkley wrote.

"Science has already disapproved Yucca Mountain as a qualified site, but the nuclear industry and DOE insist on playing politics. I urge my colleagues to oppose legislative efforts that further the Yucca Mountain Project and to resist DOE's biased position."

In Nevada, Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said she will ask the Legislative Commission, which meets Monday in Carson City, to send a letter to the DOE voicing its outrage over the agency's biased dealings.

"It would add the Legislature's voice to the chorus of people objecting," Titus said. "I think that's important."

Assembly Speaker-elect Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, said he plans to push for a bipartisan resolution taking the DOE to task when the Legislature convenes in February.

"This is what's wrong with government," Perkins said. "This is not surprising, but even I didn't think the DOE would stoop this low."

Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa, meanwhile, sent a letter to Guinn backing his criticism of the DOE, but suggesting the state has no grounds to seek legal action against the agency as a result of the documents obtained by the Sun.

The Sun reported Friday that it had obtained a draft of a 60-page DOE overview that concludes Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is safe to store the radioactive waste, even though an epic study of the Nevada site has not been completed.

Attached to the draft is a two-page reviewer's note, put together by DOE contractors, that suggests the overview is designed to help nuclear industry officials sell the Yucca Mountain Project to Congress.

"The overview provides information that potential supporters can use in expressing support for a site recommendation," the note says.

Federal law prohibits the DOE from taking sides during the site selection process.

Ivan Itkan, director of the DOE's Civilian Waste Management Office in Washington, said he disapproved of the note and removed it from subsequent drafts of the overview.

Itkin said the DOE is doing a professional and objective job of evaluating Yucca Mountain.

And his boss, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, insisted that the suitability of the Nevada site "will be based on science and not on what's good for the nuclear industry."

Itkin, however, acknowledged that he is close to recommending the mountain as a safe site.

Guinn on Monday told the Sun that he was "stunned by the hidden actions" of the DOE and was looking into the possibility of going to court to stop the DOE from collaborating behind the scenes with the nuclear industry.

"If I as governor of the state can take legal action, I want to put the Department of Energy on notice that I will do it," Guinn said. "They're not playing by the rules of integrity and honesty. It's very discouraging."

In her letter Del Papa informed Guinn that he has her "full and complete support" in his condemnation of the DOE.

"My staff is working closely with Bob Loux, executive director if the Agency for Nuclear Projects, to analyze DOE's actions and any and all appropriate responses to them," she wrote.

"The recent offending statements indicating any improper bias toward the Yucca Mountain Project are contained in an internal reviewer's note attached to the draft Site Recommendation Consideration Report (SRCR), a report that is neither required by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act nor one that has any specific legal relevance with respect to a DOE decision to recommend Yucca Mountain as a high-level nuclear waste repository.

"Because the draft SRCR has no legal basis and imposes no corresponding legal duties," Del Papa added, "there does not appear to be a viable legal challenge to a final agency action for the state to initiate at this time.

"There are, however, various federal rule-making efforts relative to Yucca Mountain, including the proposed siting guidelines, the proposed Nuclear Regulatory Commission's licensing rules and the draft Environmental Protection Agency's radiation protection standards that will undoubtedly represent opportunities for legal challenges when the rules become final."

Then Del Papa concluded:

"We can only speculate as to the possible influence the protracted presidential election may be having on DOE's release of final decisions relative to Yucca Mountain.

"Clearly, the uncertain political climate may play a role in DOE's and Congress' treatment of this highly visible and volatile issue. Like you, I stand ready to react appropriately to any DOE decision concerning Yucca Mountain to protect the vital interests of Nevadans."

Guinn said today that he told Del Papa he wanted to set up a meeting with her to go over all of the state's legal options.

He said he also has asked his legal counsel, Keith Munro, to research the subject for him.

The reviewer's note says the overview presents Yucca Mountain as the "key component in the DOE's proposed solution" to the country's nuclear waste problem.

"It is narrowly focused on the suitability of the site because decision-makers and the public are equally concerned about transportation and other issues that bear upon the site recommendation decision," the note says.

"In fact, the technical suitability of the site is less of a concern to Congress than the broader issue of whether the nuclear waste problem can be solved at an affordable price in both financial and political terms."

The overview says the new price tag for the Yucca Mountain dump and the transportation of 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste here has soared to $58 billion, well above the previous $36 billion estimate of the mid-1990s.

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