Three who found fault with Yucca procedures reassigned

Benjamin Grove

Monday, April 28, 2003 | 11:02 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The treatment of three members of a Yucca Mountain review team who were removed from their audit jobs after they found project flaws is part of an old and troubling trend, Yucca critics and observers said.

It is common for worker concerns about the project to be ignored, said Bill Belke, who retired last year as the on-site Yucca inspector for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The NRC will be responsible for licensing the project and NRC officials are keeping close tabs on the project's development.

"I have seen many times when issues are put aside or dismissed," Belke said. "People have to fight to get things documented."

Critics say the most recent example centered on three members of a four-member Yucca "quality assurance" review team. The team, from Yucca contractor Navarro Research and Engineering, uncovered a number of flaws in the Yucca work procedures that were being revised by the project's top contractor, Bechtel SAIC.

The team's findings prompted the Energy Department project's quality assurance director, R. Dennis Brown, on March 4 to issue a stop-work order on the procedures revision until the flaws were addressed.

On April 9, project managers reassigned team member Don Harris after 14 years of work as a Yucca auditor, Harris said. Harris said he was struck with "disbelief" when he was given other duties "cleaning up old paperwork," he said.

Two other members, Lester Wagner and George Harper, were reassigned, said Harris and one other source close to the project who spoke on the condition of anonymity. No action was taken against a fourth team member, Kristi Hodges.

Belke, who stays in contact with project workers and who spoke last week to two of the review team members, also confirmed that Wagner, Harper and Harris were reassigned.

In this case, the review team's findings that led to the stop-work order do not seem significant, Belke said. The stop-work order is not expected to slow the Energy Department's work at Yucca, or its goal to submit by December 2004 an application for a license to construct Yucca.

"But the point is: If the DOE can't do the little things right, from the NRC's perspective, how can they be expected to do the big things right?" Belke said.

The Yucca project, a plan to ship the nation's most radioactive waste to the mountain site for permanent burial, is still in early development stages, Belke noted, as managers wrap up studies and gather data for the license application.

Dismissing worker concerns will become a lot more serious when the project is operational and nuclear waste is actually being moved into the mountain repository, Belke said.

"This creates a chilling effect on the project," Belke said. "People are afraid of retaliation and retribution. It's unhealthy. And it's not good for the program."

Nevada officials said they were concerned the reassignment of workers mirrored another case in which a Yucca quality assurance reviewer, Jim Mattimoe, was fired after he complained about how project concerns were handled. A Labor Department review later found Mattimoe had been unfairly terminated.

"It shows that the Department of Energy is more concerned with going headlong forward with Yucca Mountain, without regard to questions about quality and safety," said Amy Spanbauer spokeswoman for Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev.

Nevada lawmakers returned to Washington today after a two-week break, and they plan to "find out what kind of actions we can take," Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., said.

"We're going to follow this very closely," said Michael O'Donovan, spokesman for Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., is concerned about the reassignments and is "looking at options to respond," spokeswoman Tessa Hafen said.

Nevada officials are concerned the Energy Department is not paying close attention to details, said Bob Loux, director of the Nevada Nuclear Projects Agency.

"It's been going on for some time that when someone tries to bring bad news or concerns to someone at the top that they basically get thrown aside," Loux said.

"It seems to us that problems with the quality assurance program are symptomatic of the bigger problems."

Harris said he and his colleagues were reassigned because their findings put a spotlight on important flaws in Yucca procedures.

A written statement released by Navarro said that within the last month "concerns were raised by others against our employees regarding unprofessional behavior in a meeting." Harris had been counseled about using foul language in meetings, the statement said. Harris was removed -- temporarily -- from his job while a Navarro program manager at Yucca Mountain investigated the concerns about the Navarro employees, the statement by Jeff Salyers, Navarro director of business operations said.

The investigation found the concerns were "not adequately substantiated." On Friday, Harris was given his old job back.