State engineer to look at Yucca water well pipes

Wednesday, April 6, 2005 | 9:41 a.m.

State engineer Hugh Ricci plans to investigate allegations made by two former pipe fitters who allege they were instructed to damage a water line and install a pipe to bypass a state water meter at the federal Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dumpsite.

To accomplish what was alleged, workers would have had to cut pipe and place two valves to block water flow to the meter, Ricci said Tuesday.

Ricci said he had not scheduled an inspection of pipes leading from two wells to the site, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, but he will soon.

"It will be shortly," Ricci said of the upcoming inspection. "It's not going to be months."

Ricci said he plans to send engineers from the Las Vegas engineer's office to Yucca Mountain.

Two former Yucca Mountain workers claimed in a federal Labor Department whistle-blower case that they never saw the bypass pipeline installed. But Dale Cain, who was laid off in December 2003, said he saw a piece of pipe being made and delivered to the site.

Ronald Dollems said that after he reported what he claims were violations of worker safety and federal environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, he was harassed and eventually fired by Yucca Mountain Project contractor Bechtel SAIC in May 2003.

Dollens said pipe fitters made a pipe in 2003 to reroute groundwater pumped from nearby wells around a water meter installed by the state.

A Labor Department investigation recommended that Bechtel SAIC pay Dollens $250,000 for retaliating after his complaints. Dollens had complained about an unsafe condition at a Yucca Mountain's million-gallon potable water tank in March 2003 and in the next month protested plans to open valves from old water tanks, fearing water contaminated with radioactivity from Nevada nuclear tests might contaminate the site. He was fired in May 2003.

Dollens also complained that air conditioning in an exploratory tunnel into Yucca Mountain had been tampered with while he worked there.

Bechtel SAIC has appealed the judgment.

No trial date has been set before an administrative law judge.

Jason Bohne, a spokesman for Bechtel SAIC, said he could not comment on the case because of the ongoing litigation.

In November 2003 Ricci, as state engineer, denied the Energy Department permanent rights to 140 million gallons per year of groundwater to build the repository. The nuclear industry has been waiting for more than two decades for a permanent burial site for the nation's radioactive wastes, spent commercial fuel, and military waste.

The state did agree in federal court to let the Yucca Mountain project refill four water storage tanks for restrooms and emergencies.