Yucca to be center of more attention

Benjamin Grove

Monday, Dec. 18, 2000 | 12:34 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- Nevada's congressional delegation and anti-nuclear industry activists on Tuesday plan to shine a brighter spotlight on an inspector general's investigation into whether the Department of Energy is already biased in favor a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain.

Officials are planning two press conferences: one on Capitol Hill and one in Las Vegas featuring Mayor Oscar Goodman.

"We just want to let people know we haven't forgotten about it," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said today.

Nevada officials in recent days have blasted the DOE after the Sun reported a two-page note had been attached to the DOE's unreleased Yucca site study. The author of the note, suspected to be a DOE-paid contractor on Yucca projects, has not been identified. The note since has been removed from the draft report.

The note suggested to the DOE officials reviewing the Yucca report that the report would be a good document to use to persuade Congress that Yucca is a safe site to bury waste.

Nevada officials were angered because scientific studies of Yucca and long-term nuclear waste burial are still ongoing and the site has received no official approvals. DOE, which oversees the Yucca studies, has taken no officials stance for or against the project.

"This was the latest in a series of events that has undermined the DOE's site characterization process," said Lisa Gue of Washington-based Public Citizen, an environment and consumer watchdog group. "The public-interest community intends to hold the DOE accountable for this apparent bias within this process."

Nevada officials say DOE's objective stance on the project has been compromised. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Congress, among others, must sign off on the project before highly radioactive waste from the nation's 103 nuclear reactors are shipped to the mountain 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

DOE's Yucca Mountain project chief, Ivan Itkin, said there is no internal DOE bias toward the project. Still, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson has called for an inspector general's investigation.

Gov. Kenny Guinn and other Nevada leaders are calling on the DOE to do a thorough review for bias within the department.