Judges to hear state’s complaint on nuclear documents

Suzanne Struglinski

Thursday, July 15, 2004 | 9:42 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- A three-judge panel will hear Nevada's complaint that the Energy Department has not filed all of its backup documents with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a complaint that if upheld could delay the department's licensing request.

Nevada officials charge that the federal government has not properly "certified" its documents -- the backup information is supposed to be public six months before the license application.

Nevada officials argue that the law requires that the documents must be on an NRC Web site. The department says it satisfied the law by putting the documents on its own Web site while the NRC processes the documents.

If the judges side with Nevada, the database would not satisfy the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's requirements that begin the Yucca Mountain licensing process, said Joe Egan, a lawyer who represents Nevada on Yucca issues.

That could cause another delay in the department's plan to submit the project's license application to the commission in December, which could stall the entire project. Nevada already believes work on the application is in jeopardy because Friday's federal appeals court decision threw out the project's 10,000-year radiation compliance standard, leaving a hole in the commission's licensing rules.

The department intends to continue work on the application and supplement it later if the Environmental Protection Agency issues a new radiation standard, officials have said. It insists it will meet its December application deadline and still open the site by 2010.

The commission's Pre-License Application Board, a three-judge panel, announced Wednesday it will hear oral arguments on July 27 on Nevada's challenges.