Former NRC member helping DOE on Yucca

Suzanne Struglinski

Thursday, April 29, 2004 | 8:46 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Former Nuclear Regulatory Commission member Greta Joy Dicus is helping the Energy Department work on its license application for the Yucca Mountain project, an arrangement that would violate federal rules if she was working for a private applicant or for Nevada.

Former members of the the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are prohibited from working for private licensees, such as commercial nuclear power plants, for one year after the expiration of their terms on the commission.

Dicus' term on the commission expired in June 2003.

But because she is consulting for another federal agency and not a private licensee, her consultant work is allowed, according to commission's General Counsel Office.

Dicus started a $24,940 contract in February for "License Application Consultant Services," according to a list of Energy Department contracts. Her contract with the department runs through Feb. 20, 2005.

The DOE anticipates submitting its license application for the nuclear waste storage site planned at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, by the end of the year.

A copy of Dicus' consulting contract was not immediately available, so it is unclear exactly what type of work she is doing.

Joe Egan, of Egan, Fitzpatrick, Malsch and Cynkar, the Virginia law firm hired by Nevada to handle Yucca Mountain legal issues, said that although the contract may not violate the letter of the law it certainly violates the spirit of the one-year prohibition.

Allowing Dicus to help the Energy Department with its application provides the department with an unfair advantage, Egan said. Dicus or any other former federal employee that has worked on things related to Yucca Mountain could not represent the state during the upcoming licensing hearings.

A July 31, 2002, decision by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics barred former Energy Department or Nuclear Regulatory Commission employees from representing parties other than the federal government in the licensing proceedings.

John Bartlett, the former director of the Yucca project, has been a consultant to Nevada on Yucca matters.

Based on the ruling, Bartlett cannot be called as a witness during the licensing hearings or represent the state in any way, said attorney Martin Malsch.

"It's a double standard," Egan said. "It's another way they slant the rules in their favor."

The current chairman of the commission could quit tomorrow and go to work for the department, but could not represent Nevada, Egan said.

While the commission has agreed that permanent geologic disposal of spent nuclear fuel is the best option, it has not yet taken a position on whether Yucca Mountain could fulfill that need.

Former President Bill Clinton nominated Dicus to the commission in 1996. She served for two years, was reappointed in 1998 and served as chairwoman for a year in 1999 until former Chairman Richard Meserve was appointed to the post.