Contractor disputes GAO’s Yucca audit

Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2001 | 10:43 a.m.

The president of the Energy Department contractor that is studying the viability of Yucca Mountain as the nation's nuclear waste repository said company officials "are astounded by the factual and legal inaccuracies" contained in a recent congressional audit of the project.

Bechtel SAIC President and General Manager Kennon G. Hess, in a letter to the General Accounting Office dated Monday, responded to a GAO draft audit that criticized the progress of scientific work at Yucca Mountain.

The GAO report said the DOE has no reliable estimate as to when, or for how much, the repository could be opened.

According to the audit, even employees for Bechtel who were interviewed by the GAO said the DOE would be premature in recommending Yucca Mountain as the repository for 77,000 tons of the nation's high-level nuclear waste. The report also said essential scientific data would be unavailable until at least 2006 and recommended the DOE delay the project indefinitely.

The report said Bechtel told the government it would take until January 2006 to complete detailed research and cost estimates for a repository. The DOE and its contractors are still analyzing nearly 300 technical issues that raise concerns about the site's suitability.

But Bechtel disputes reports that the project will be delayed. Bechtel officials said the GAO linked several issues incorrectly. The contractor's schedule "remains unchanged," Hess said.

According to the letter, it is "imperative" for the GAO to correct its impression that it would take until 2006 before information about the mountain would be ready for Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham to recommend the site to the president. Abraham said that he plans to make a recommendation this winter.

Bechtel has performed scientific and engineering studies required for a site recommendation, Hess said, and the contractor plans to respond to the GAO audit through the DOE this week.

The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, launched the Yucca study in February at the request of Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Nevada officials opposed to the repository, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, said the GAO audit dealt a crushing blow to DOE's plans for Yucca.

GAO reports are normally not made public until the parties being investigated have commented on the report; the comments are included in a final audit. It was "unfortunate" that the report was leaked, a spokesman said. A final audit will be released after the DOE reviews the draft.