French shot at Yucca Mountain contract criticized

Benjamin Grove

Friday, April 18, 2003 | 10:06 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Critics of France for its anti-war stance are questioning whether a French company should be considered for a lucrative Yucca Mountain contract.

At issue is a contract for a waste transfer facility at Yucca where radioactive material would be prepared for burial in Yucca tunnels. The Energy Department's top contract for the nuclear waste repository project, Bechtel SAIC, is already seeking design contracts for the facility.

Bechtel will not confirm bidders or details about the contract until it is awarded, spokeswoman Bea Reilly said. The Energy Department did not return calls for comment.

But media reports have said that the French company Cogema is one of three candidates for the job.

It is widely believed that Cogema's experience with "dry transfer facilities," which do not use fuel pools, would have "special appeal" to Bechtel, according to a February article in Nuclear Fuel, a trade publication.

CNN this week reported that Cogema may be the leading candidate for the work over two U.S. companies. And New York Times columnist William Safire wrote this month that the two other companies, which he said were an American-Japanese group and an American-British group, should be given consideration over Cogema.

"Assuming the expertise and price are in the same ballpark, which outfit should not get this sensitive project financed by American taxpayers?" Safire wrote. "In light of (French) President Jacques Chirac's torpedo into the Atlantic alliance, the question answers itself."

Michael McMurphy, president and CEO of Cogema's U.S. arm, Cogema Inc., told the Sun he could not comment because the company was in the middle of the contract bidding with Bechtel. But he said his company's technical expertise was "directly applicable" to the job Bechtel seeks to fill.

"I'm confident our proposal would be considered fairly based on its own merits," and not influenced by any anti-French sentiment, McMurphy said. He added that the U.S. arm of the company is incorporated in Delaware and that the company and its affiliates employ about 4,000 U.S. workers.

But several critics say that French companies should not be given top consideration for Yucca contracts, especially when it comes to issues of national security such as nuclear waste management.

"We do feel that as a national security question, contracts should go to companies that are going to be with us through thick and thin," said David Bossie, president of the conservative activist group Citizens United Foundation.

That's going to be the reaction of lots of Las Vegas Valley residents too, said Archie Barton, a 45-year-old mall security guard who lives in The Lakes.

"When I heard about this on the news, I got pretty upset about it. I did some research on the Internet and there are allegations that this French company has safety problems," Barton said. "And the national security concern is a valid one when you are talking about a company based in a country that worked against our national security objectives.

"If there are other companies that can do the Yucca work, companies that are affiliated with countries that are our allies, then the contract ought to go to one of them," Barton said. "I think a lot of people who pay attention to what is going on, people who vote, will feel the same way."

CNN's Moneyline program sought out comment from Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., on the Cogema issue because he has been outspoken against France's position against the war with Iraq, Kingston spokeswoman Robyn Ridgley said. It makes sense to "lean towards" an American company, Kingston told CNN.

"All things being equal, the question is: Should France reap the benefits of lucrative contracts when they have made it a national pastime to bash America?" Ridgley said.

Among the lawmakers who have been most outspoken against French companies profiting from the post-war reconstruction contracts in Iraq has been Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev. But pending Nevada's legal fight to kill the project, it's "too hypothetical" to comment on whether French companies profit at Yucca Mountain, Ensign spokesman Jack Finn said.

"We're still optimistic there will be no Yucca Mountain."