Berkley concerned nuclear study may face conflicts of interest

Friday, May 16, 2003 | 11:30 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- A newly launched National Academy of Sciences study of nuclear waste transportation is laden with conflicts of interest and will not yield an objective and independent report, Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said.

At issue is an $850,000 study overseen by the academy paid for, in part, by the Department of Energy, which manages the Yucca project, and the Electric Power Research Institute, a research arm of the utility industry, including the nuclear power industry. The study is also sponsored by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Department of Transportation and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program.

"I have several reservations and serious concerns about a study that is primarily funded by the executive branch and a private research company that are heavily invested in moving forward with a permanent repository at Yucca Mountain," Berkley wrote in a letter to National Academy President Bruce Alberts.

The 15-member research board meets in Washington today for the first time. The board's goal is to analyze important technical and societal issues for shipping high-level nuclear waste, and then outline policy options for managing the waste-shipping risks.

The federal government and nuclear power industry have for years shipped relatively small amounts of high-level nuclear waste, mostly used uranium fuel from reactors. But the government is considering a massive new waste-shipping campaign as part of the Yucca Mountain project, the proposed plan to construct a national repository for high-level waste in Nevada.

Berkley fired off two other letters Thursday: