DOE caught in conflict of interest suit at Yucca

Tuesday, March 28, 2000 | 11:24 a.m.

A law firm Monday sued the Department of Energy over a contract awarded to a competitor for legal work on the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.

The suit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court by LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, claims that a $16.5 million contract awarded to the Chicago law firm of Winston & Strawn is a conflict of interest because the firm also represents TRW Environmental Safety Services, Inc., the prime contractor at Yucca Mountain.

Under the contract awarded in September, Winston & Strawn will spend 38,900 hours reviewing the DOE's application to build and operate a high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The application is expected to be presented to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by 2003.

The General Accounting Office investigated the conflict at the request of Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., but said it lacked jurisdiction over legal and ethical questions.

In its complaint, LeBoeuf said that Winston & Strawn cannot perform an independent review of the license application because of its association with TRW. Both Winston & Strawn and LeBoeuf scored a perfect 1,000 on the DOE's contract review.

Under federal procurement law "if a bidder would have been selected but for the illegal action of the agency in choosing another bidder, the court is empowered to make the award to the unsuccessful bidder," LeBoeuf's complaint said.

TRW has dug the 5-mile-long exploratory tunnel to allow scientists to study the feasibility of Yucca Mountain storing nuclear waste and is helping the DOE to prepare studies for the NRC application, according to the suit.

The suit claims that the DOE had explicitly told TRW when it was awarded the original $1 billion contract in 1992 that it was not eligible to bid on the final review contract.

Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said the construction and operating contract for Yucca Mountain, which expires in February 2001, will be rebid.

The DOE claimed it had to seek legal help outside the federal general counsel's office because there was no expertise on what may be the largest federal project ever built. About 50 attorneys nationwide have technical expertise in nuclear issues.

The NRC has the final approval on whether a repository opens for permanent burial of 77,000 tons of highly radioactive commercial and Defense Department wastes. The site must pass a scientific review and then be approved by the president and Congress.