Report: Trust in Yucca project falters

Tuesday, April 24, 2001 | 11:20 a.m.

Public trust in the Yucca Mountain site-selection process is waning, the Energy Department's inspector general concluded in a just-released report.

"From the outset, the focus on the Yucca Mountain site as the potential repository for the nation's high-level nuclear waste has been controversial," Gregory H. Friedman wrote in his 14-page report Monday to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham.

"Based on correspondence received by the Office of Inspector General, it is fair to observe that, at least in some quarters, public confidence in the department's evaluation of Yucca Mountain has eroded."

But Friedman also said a four-month internal investigation by his office could not substantiate concerns in Nevada that bias on the part of the DOE and its contractors had compromised the selection process.

And that led Nevada leaders to call his report "superficial" and "shallow."

"My concern is that there obviously was open and clear bias, and the inspector general didn't come up with that," said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who requested the investigation.

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., added: "To suggest anything but that there is a bias toward site suitability is ludicrous."

Reps. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., also voiced their displeasure.

"This does nothing to allay my suspicions," said Berkley, who toured the site Monday. "I think the tenor of the report reflects our opinion that the process has been tainted from the beginning."

Gibbons described the report as "terribly inadequate," and he charged that there appears to have been an effort on the part of DOE contractors to withhold information from the inspector general.

Friedman urged Abraham to take steps to restore public confidence in the site-selection process amid the barrage of criticism against the DOE in Nevada.

The inspector general suggested Abraham renew the DOE's commitment to a fair and unbiased evaluation of Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Abraham quickly heeded Friedman's words in a memo Monday to all employees and contractors of the DOE's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, the agency overseeing the selection process.

"We will all remain vigilant in ensuring that we perform our work without any preconceived opinions or bias," Abraham wrote. "In addition, we must ensure that our work does not even raise the perception of possible bias. Public trust in the fundamental processes of government is crucial to the fulfillment of the department's mission."

Abraham also issued a public statement driving home his directive.

"Accordingly," he said, "I am today reaffirming our commitment to a site-suitability evaluation process which is objective, unbiased and based on sound science, and conveying that reaffirmation of policy to all relevant parties."

Gov. Kenny Guinn said he hoped Friedman's report would cause the DOE to refocus the debate over Yucca Mountain on science, not politics.

"While I'm disappointed in the conclusion that bias could not be proven, aspects of the inspector general's report enhance my belief that Nevada has, in fact, been unfairly targeted during the site-selection process," Guinn said.

"I hope that this report forces the Department of Energy to put a new emphasis on the scientific integrity of its investigation into the suitability of Yucca Mountain."

Guinn said the notion that "political concerns" could affect the selection process is "shocking and disheartening."

The inspector general's investigation was prompted by a Dec. 1 Sun story suggesting that documents showed the DOE was collaborating with the nuclear industry to recommend Yucca Mountain as the site of the nation's first high-level nuclear waste repository.

Federal law prohibits the DOE from taking sides.

"We could not substantiate the concern that bias compromised the integrity of the site evaluation process, or that the department or its contractors considered a formal or informal strategy for supporting the site characterization recommendation in violation of the law," Friedman wrote in his report.

But he added that the investigation found that some statements attached to DOE documents in the selection process "could be viewed as suggesting a premature conclusion regarding suitability of Yucca Mountain."

Those statements were made primarily by a DOE subcontractor in a two-page memo attached to a 60-page draft overview that concludes that Yucca Mountain is safe to store the deadly radioactive waste even though scientific studies of the site aren't complete.

The memo, obtained by the Sun last year, suggests the overview could be used to help nuclear industry officials sell the Yucca Mountain project to Congress.

Friedman said the memo appeared in an October draft of the overview but was pulled by the DOE in subsequent drafts.

Both the overview and memo were written by JK Research Associates, a Colorado-based company owned by John E. Kelly, a longtime DOE subcontractor.

A spokeswoman for Kelly said this morning that the subcontractor was not commenting on the inspector general's report.

"We're making no comments at all," the spokeswoman said. "As we've said before, it's a DOE matter."