Editorial: Open probe into alleged Yucca flaws

Saturday, June 7, 2003 | 3:37 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION: June 8, 2003

A letter regarding the quality of construction at Yucca Mountain, bearing the signatures of U.S. Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., was sent last week to Attorney General John Ashcroft. The senators based their letter on evidence that's been building over the past several months casting serious doubt on the quality of work taking place at Yucca Mountain.

Reid and Ensign are asking Ashcroft to investigate allegations that quality assurance workers are being intimidated. The Sun has detailed the cases of workers who say they experienced disciplinary retaliation when they raised concerns regarding procedures and workmanship. It was alarming when two of those workers failed to appear at a field hearing conducted by Reid and Ensign on May 25. Were they pressured to stay away? It was alarming when a top Department of Energy official wrote to Reid, explaining she would not encourage workers to testify. It was alarming when, at the hearing, representatives from the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology also raised serious quality-assurance issues.

We have always sided with the scientists who say that it is impossible -- even with the highest construction standards -- for Yucca Mountain to safely seal 77,000 tons of nuclear waste that will be deadly for at least the next 10,000 years. Given the strength of the arguments against Yucca under even the most rigid standards, it's certainly of urgent national concern when there is reason to believe standards may be lax.

Nothing like Yucca has ever been built and therefore its work should have layer upon layer of oversight. A Department of Energy timetable lists 2010 as the earliest date the mountain could open -- a date just seven years away. For the sake of the nation now and in the future, Ashcroft should order an investigation -- one that would ensure the protection of all workers who cooperate with it.