NRC staff not pushing for Yucca, attorney says

Suzanne Struglinski

Friday, Aug. 13, 2004 | 9:22 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff is not advocating for the Energy Department's Yucca Mountain project, the agency's attorney assured Nevada officials Wednesday.

Nevada had accused the commission's staff of being partial to the department based on comments made by an attorney during an administrative court hearing last month.

Attorney Mitzi Young used the phrase "hard sell" when describing the agency's support for the Energy Department's position on Nevada's challenge to the document database.

Nevada officials believe the department violated the rules when it created its own Web site and posted millions of documents to it, only to have the site be unusable for days following its release. Energy Department officials believe the database is acceptable under the law. The department needed to make the documents public six months before it planned to turn in its license application.

"Merely because the staff's views may diverge from those of the state in a particular instance, it is irresponsible to suggest that they therefore reflect an inappropriate bias towards the Department of Energy," NRC General Counsel Karen Cyr said in a letter sent to Bob Loux, executive director of the state's Agency for Nuclear Projects Wednesday.

"Please be assured that there have been no communications that would compromise the separation of functions requirements or suggest that the staff should depart from its traditional role in this matter," Cyr said.

She said she had spoken with Young and other attorneys and found nothing wrong.

The state emphasized that the agency is required to be an independent evaluator in the whole process.

The administrative court has not yet issued a decision on whether the database satisfies the law. A ruling in the state's favor could delay the project.