NRC data access closed to public

Suzanne Struglinski

Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2004 | 9:44 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Public access to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's document databases will be down for at least three weeks while it examines them for sensitive information.

As network administrator Dan Graser showed UNLV computer engineers how the Yucca Mountain document database worked Monday, the commission decided to take it and other public document databases down to review them for sensitive information.

"The specific catalyst was when people went into ADAMS and found floor plans within license renewals," said NRC spokesman Dave McIntyre. "It raised concerns."

NBC News and CNN recently did reports on the ease of locating radioactive material inside medical buildings, universities and other places using the commission's "Agency-wide Documents Access and Management System," known as ADAMS.

That system includes an archive of at least 700,000 documents. It will not be accessible to the public for at least three weeks, officials said.

McIntyre said the agency is grappling with how to remain a public and open agency while protecting information that would be useful to anyone wanting to get radioactive materials for dangerous uses.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks the commission took down its entire Web site and removed more than 1,000 documents it deemed sensitive. Nothing labeled classified or safeguarded has ever appeared on the site, but McIntyre said the definition of sensitive information is changing.

Additionally, the public won't be able to access the License Support Network, the commission's database of Yucca Mountain documents, until further notice.

The Energy Department's work of loading its documents into the network will not be affected, said Allen Benson, Yucca Mountain project spokesman.

The Energy Department submitted all of its documents to the network in June in order to meet its Dec. 31 deadline of giving the commission the license application for the proposed nuclear waste storage site at Yucca, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

A commission administrative panel found the department did not follow the law and still has documents to up-load. The department is still waiting for a decision from the commission regarding a rehearing of the case.

Martin Malsch, of Egan, Fitzpatrick, Malsch & Cynkar, the law firm hired by the state to handle Yucca issues said the lack of access should not affect the state.

"We're not under any deadline right now," he said. "I don't think it hurts us very much."

Once the Energy Department certifies to the commission is has completed all its documentation, the state has 90 days to get its own documentation into the commission.