Yucca security clearances being expanded

Benjamin Grove

Thursday, Dec. 16, 2004 | 9:56 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday announced that it would accept applications for security clearances to classified Yucca Mountain documents.

The agency is expanding the types of people who could obtain the clearances under a new regulation published in the federal register Wednesday. The regulation is set to take effect Feb. 28.

The security clearance applications would be accepted from Yucca project "stakeholders," such as Clark County and other Nevada officials, the agency announced.

The NRC will grant the clearances to people who meet "need to know" criteria determined by the agency, NRC spokeswoman Sue Gagner said.

That was good news for Nevada officials who have sought to obtain the clearances, said Bob Loux, executive director of the Nevada Nuclear Projects Agency. The NRC has not indicated that it would refuse access to state officials, he said. "At least right now, for us, this hasn't been a big problem," he said.

At issue are thousands of Yucca documents that the Energy Department plans to submit to the NRC as part of its application for a license to construction Yucca.

Some of the documents may contain sensitive information, such as transportation information for the highly radioactive waste that would be shipped on roads and rails to the underground repository at Yucca, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The documents might also include information about security at Yucca, or military waste, including plutonium, said Joe Egan, the lawyer who is leading legal battles against Yucca for the state.

State officials believe the NRC should grant key people access to relevant documents from the beginning of the application review so that they are not constantly thwarted in their efforts by blanket refusals of access to all classified documents, Egan said.