Del Papa intervenes in case against DOE

Thursday, May 11, 2000 | 11:39 a.m.

Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa has filed a motion to intervene in a conflict of interest case against the Department of Energy related to a major contract on the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.

Del Papa's office, on behalf of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, filed a 14-page brief Wednesday in the case brought by the law firm of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae against the DOE in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas.

The suit claims that a $16.5 million contract awarded by the DOE 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, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The complaint alleges that Winston & Strawn cannot perform the required independent review of DOE's license application to build and operate a proposed repository at Yucca because of the conflict.

Del Papa said the state would represent the public interest in the case to ensure that any licensing procedure, if Yucca is recommended as a repository, be as fair and impartial as possible.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has the final approval to determine whether a repository is built at Yucca Mountain. The site first needs approval by the president and Congress.