DOE scientists still reviewing data on Yucca Mountain

Thursday, Nov. 13, 2003 | 9:52 a.m.

Despite Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's confidence that the Energy Department, by December 2004, will submit a license application for building a Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, scientists still hunting for information to prove the site is safe are not as certain they'll meet the deadline.

The Energy Department's top contractor, Bechtel SAIC, is reviewing scientific records before the DOE submits a license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, expected in December 2004.

In a meeting between Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff and DOE scientists on Wednesday, department scientists said they are combing through 1,352 sets of data to find links between information in computer models and the original scientific studies.

They are trying to show a nuclear repository at the mountain 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas will keep radiation away from people and the environment for at least 10,000 years.

Nuclear waste could begin arriving at Yucca as soon as 2010.

Abraham said on Monday that he was confident the Energy Department could meet its December 2004 deadline.

Michael Yaeger of Bechtel SAIC, part of the management team, said the DOE is in the process of confirming the relevant data.

"We will not submit a license application until we confirm the data and the codes," Yaeger said during a teleconference between Las Vegas, San Antonio, Texas, and NRC headquarters in Maryland.

About 13 percent of the Yucca project's records have been reviewed by the DOE to date.

Susan Lynch, in charge of scientific review for Nevada, which is opposing the repository, said Wednesday's report is "just an indication of ongoing problems."

The DOE is trying to fit its scientific data to meet the NRC's license application demands, Lynch said.

"It's hard to see how we can have a warm, fuzzy feeling about the procedure," Lynch said.