Worries of DOE bias revived

Mary Manning and Jeff German

Thursday, Jan. 4, 2001 | 11:21 a.m.

More evidence of possible bias on the part of Energy Department's chief Yucca Mountain contractor has surfaced in documents provided by the agency.

The contractor, TRW Environmental Safety Systems Inc., was so confident that Yucca Mountain would be chosen as the nation's high-level nuclear waste repository that it wrote a report in August on how to design a 1,000-foot-deep dump at the site, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The revelation has sparked a new wave of criticism of the DOE from Nevada leaders. Federal law prohibits the DOE from taking sides in the site-selection process.

TRW's 51-page report, which was turned over to the DOE last month, concludes that the dump would be safe for 10,000 years, even though epic scientific studies of Yucca Mountain's suitability haven't been completed and safety standards haven't been set by the federal agencies overseeing the licensing of the repository.

"Uncertainties regarding repository performance over the next 10,000 years certainly do exist and may never be completely eliminated," the report says.

"However, the design concepts and operational procedures described in this document do provide reasonable assurance that the safe disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste can be achieved through a combination of both the natural and engineered barrier systems."

TRW, which no longer will be the DOE's lead contractor next month, is being investigated by the agency's inspector general for allegedly pushing Yucca Mountain before receiving the results of the taxpayer-financed scientific studies.

The investigation was prompted by a Dec. 1 Sun story that reported the DOE and the nuclear industry were collaborating behind the scenes to prepare a massive public report that will recommend Yucca Mountain.

A two-page memo, allegedly put together by TRW, suggested a 60-page overview of the public report being circulated within the DOE's community of experts could be used to help the nuclear industry sell Yucca Mountain to Congress.

Yucca Mountain is the only site under study to accept 77,000 tons of high-level waste now being stored at nuclear power plants across the country. On Feb. 12 TRW will be replaced by the Bechtel-SAIC Company LLC, which won a $3.1 billion, 5-year Yucca Mountain contract in November.

Allen Benson, the DOE's Yucca Mountain spokesman, said the TRW design report was merely put together to give the public a sense of what a repository could look like.

"It's not etched in stone," Benson said. "This document should not be interpreted as an official version of the repository. The design is evolving."

TRW officials did not return phone calls.

But Bob Loux, executive director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, said the report appears to be another example of bias against Nevada.

"Clearly, the activity of designing a repository in advance of knowing whether the site is suitable seems to be prejudicial in my mind," Loux said.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., called the TRW report part of a "pattern of deception" to speed up the process of putting nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.

"It's just further documentation of what we've suspected for many years that the contractors and subcontractors have been in cahoots with the DOE to make sure Yucca Mountain is found suitable," Berkley said.

"Yucca Mountain will never be suitable, and all of the camouflage they roll out isn't going to make it so."

The TRW report is further evidence that the Yucca dump is on DOE's fast track, Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said.

"I'm shocked at the type of conduct on the part of the Department of Energy. This appears to be part of an on going persistent bias to find Yucca Mountain suitable long before the evidence has been completed.

"I believe that this adds great weight to our request to have a General Accounting Office investigation of the Department of Energy with regard to whether (DOE) Secretary (Bill) Richardson violated the law that requires open and full disclosure, as well as an unbiased position by the DOE in this matter."

Gibbons said he's still preparing a letter to the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, asking for the probe.

Richardson requested the inspector general's investigation of TRW on the heels of a similar request by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., last month.

Reid said this morning that TRW's design report shows "deception and a lack of judgment on the part of the contractor.

"If they're saying the repository is safe, why do they need to take all this money from the federal government (for scientific studies)," Reid said.

The report suggests the repository could be designed to accommodate the stacking of thousands of nuclear waste containers underground in tunnels.

Also explored in the report is the possibility of expanding Yucca's repository to hold 129,800 tons of nuclear wastes when complete, a goal that is against current law. Current DOE plans call for a second repository in the eastern half of the country after Yucca is approved.

The DOE has commissioned contractors to study such potential threats as 84 known earthquake faults at Yucca, possible violent volcanic eruptions and how fast ground water moves through the mountain.