Senators seek GAO probe of new Yucca allegations

Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2002 | 9:31 a.m.

Nevada's senators are asking for a federal probe of recently reported flaws in the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project and of alleged mistreatment of whistleblowers.

Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., on Monday asked for an investigation by the General Accounting Office. They based the request on an anonymous letter received by their offices and a story in Sunday's Las Vegas Review-Journal. The story said two Yucca quality assurance workers were displaced -- one fired, one transferred -- after aggressively spotlighting deficiencies in the nuclear waste dump project.

The senators are concerned the Energy Department is cutting corners in assessing the safety of the project in a rushed attempt to meet ambitious deadlines, based on the letter and the newspaper story.

Quality assurance is "crucial to ensuring the site will adequately protect public health and safety and the environment," the senators said in a letter to GAO, the investigative arm of Congress.

The senators said the anonymous letter indicates a significant loss of scientific data within the Energy Department project. The letter cites problems in managing "vast amounts" of data that will be used to determine whether the project is licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The license is necessary before the dump can be constructed.

In a separate letter Monday, Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., wrote to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, expressing her "great alarm" and looking for more answers.

"I would like to know what allegations these employees raised specifically in relation to DOE's work and what corners were cut on quality assurance," Berkley wrote. "I would also appreciate an answer as to why DOE retaliated against these employees, and what measures DOE has taken to rectify the situation."

Congress and President Bush earlier this year approved Yucca, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as the best site for a first-of-its-kind dump for the nation's most radioactive nuclear waste. The waste is now piling up at nuclear power plants and Defense Department sites across the country.

Nevada officials have long opposed Yucca.

The next step in the project is that the Energy Department must obtain a construction license from the NRC. The department is now compiling a complex application for the license. In its bid to meet strict deadlines and construct the dump site by 2010, the department has ignored flaws in the quality assurance data, the two displaced Yucca workers have said.

The project, under study since the early 1980s, has already cost $8 billion and could cost $80 billion, the senators said, although Energy Department estimates are lower for both figures.