Former Yucca worker wants congressional probe

Benjamin Grove

Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2002 | 11:13 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- A former Yucca Mountain worker said he is encouraged by Nevada senators' call for a General Accounting Office investigation of his firing.

"I hope it goes beyond that," said Jim Mattimoe, who alleges that he was fired after he began drawing attention to flaws in the Energy Department's nuclear waste dump project. "My feeling is that this is a good first step."

Mattimoe, who worked for Energy Department contractor Navarro Research and Engineering on Yucca quality assurance, was fired by Navarro in August 2001. Mattimoe said he had raised questions about possible wrongdoing and corruption within the Yucca project to Robert Clark, head of Yucca's quality assurance for the Energy Department.

Clark passed those concerns on to Energy's acting Yucca chief, Lake Barrett, now retired, who launched an investigation. But the probe, by law firm Morgan Lewis, turned into a complex investigation of Mattimoe's whistle-blowing, Mattimoe said. The department and Navarro unfairly used the investigation to justify his firing, he said.

Calls to the Energy Department and Navarro seeking comment were not immediately returned.

Mattimoe appealed to the Labor Department, which investigated and ruled that Mattimoe was wronged and that he should get his job back and be reimbursed. Navarro appealed the Labor ruling, and the appeal is still pending.

Meanwhile, Mattimoe, who has 31 years of quality assurance program experience, has been forced to take jobs outside Las Vegas and away from his wife, he said. He is currently working for Los Alamos National Laboratory.

In a separate but related action, the Energy Department transferred Clark out of his job as quality assurance manager to another assignment.

Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., this week called for a GAO investigation into questions about Yucca's quality assurance program and about the displacement of Mattimoe and Clark from their jobs.

"Apparently, these employees were used as an example -- keep your mouth shut or you'll be removed," Reid said in a written statement this week. "I can't help but wonder how many other employees have damaging information and are afraid to come forward."

In an interview, Mattimoe said he wants a full congressional investigation, including hearings.

"They framed me through a phony investigation," Mattimoe said, referring to the Energy Department and the law firm probe.

Mattimoe said he was fired on a conference call. He said the reasons were not fully explained. He was not allowed back into the building to retrieve personal items and an image of his face was posted on the wall, he said.

"These people treated me like a criminal," Mattimoe said. "This was humiliating to me and to my family."

Mattimoe said he may file a civil lawsuit, pending the Navarro appeal of the Labor Department ruling. Ultimately, Mattimoe wants a full investigation and compensation, as well as peace of mind that the Yucca project is safe.

"I believe in this project," Mattimoe said. "There are a lot of good people working on it."

The Energy Department aims to make Yucca the world's first permanent high-level nuclear waste dump. Congress and President Bush have approved the site, but the department must obtain a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission before it can begin construction. The department has ambitious deadlines to meet in order to hit a 2010 goal for opening Yucca.

Quality assurance measures at Yucca are an important part of the NRC licensing process and are key to the Energy Department's case that Yucca would indeed be a safe place to bury 77,000 tons of highly radioactive material.

"The Yucca Mountain project represents one of the largest civilian federal projects ever developed," Reid and Ensign wrote to the GAO Monday. "As a result, it should be held to the highest ethical, legal and technical standards."