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Bonuses on Yucca contract questioned

Suzanne Struglinski

Friday, May 21, 2004 | 11:03 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The state wants to know if the Energy Department is violating any laws by promising millions of dollars in bonuses to Bechtel SAIC for completing its contract for the Yucca Mountain repository by December.

Bob Loux, executive director of the state Agency of Nuclear Projects, wrote a letter to Energy Department Inspector General Gregory Friedman Tuesday asking for an investigation.

"It is normally illegal, and always unethical, to pay experts testifying in court a bonus on the basis of whether the judge accepts their testimony. Courts expect to hear an expert's honest conclusions, unvarnished by the temptation to share in the outcome," Loux wrote. "That is why bonus payments are regarded as an improper inducement. Yet that is, in effect, what the Department is doing."

Bechtel could receive an $11 million bonus if it gets a draft of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission license application to the department by July 26 and another $15 million if it completes a license by Nov. 30. It will get an additional $22 million if the commission accepts the application.

Freidman's office could not be reached this morning to see if it will move forward with the investigation.

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